The Rod of Erutan
by Yorokei
Summary: When a boy with a wand made out of silver arrives at Hogwarts, he finds a strange messenger who tells him he is in grave danger, but no clues are given why! Then, he starts seeing and hearing things......
1. Prologue

-        Prologue -

Suppose there was a world....a world of witchcraft and wizardry...in which there didn't a day pass by without something supernatural or unexplainable happening...In a world like that, conspiracies would be made every day, to prevent terrible things from happening in the world that was meant to look as peacefull as possible....Imagine yourself looking through a little window, of an old castle, and seeing a little, tiny creature talking to a shimmering little lila light. Now, that is where this story starts....

'You understand that?', said the tiny creature to the shimmering light that keep flying in front of him.

'Yes', said the little light with a very high pitched voice. 'It is of vital essence that I find him and warn him for the dreadfull things that might befall him.'

The tiny creature nodded.'Good. Now, you must hurry. Rumor goes that he has already received note from Hogwarts. He will be studiying there this year.'

'Hogwarts...You mean the school for witchcraft and wizardy?'

'Yes. It would be wise to go there straight away rather than meeting him at his house. He probably will be on his way really soon. If you are at Hogwarts before he arrives, you can warn him.'

'Yes, MyLord.'

'His fate, and maybe that of the entire world lies in the succes of this mission. It is imperrative that this mission is of succes! I hate to think what would happen if something would go seriously wrong....'

Suddenly, footseps were rapidly coming down a hallway. The shady figure pointed toward an open window.

'Hurry! You must go now! Quick!'

'Yes!'

The door to the room opened, and a somewhat taller figure entered the room.

'Dad? Sorry to disturb you....were you talking to someone?'

The little light quickly flew out of the window, and dissapeared.

'I told you never to enter my private office without knocking the door!'

'Oh....Sorry, dad.'

The father sighed.'No, it is me who should be sorry. I should spend some more time with you and your mother.'

'Mother and me know you have a lot of important business to attend to, dad. It's okay.'

'Thanks', said the father, and he looked at the window, then sighed again.

'Something wrong, dad?'

The father thought for a moment, and said:'No son. Not yet. Nothing you should worry about....'

The little, shimmering glow was now traveling over an inmense, foggy ocean. The message it's master gave it kept repeating itself inside it's mind.

'His fate, and maybe that of the entire world lies in the succes of this mission. It is imperrative that this mission is of succes! I hate to think what would happen if something would go seriously wrong....'

The creature shed little tears. It was still so young. How could it's master entrust it with a burden so heavy? It simply wasn't fair! As it made it's way across the ocean, it decided to look for another, less important master as soon as she was finished with the errand for this one. Perhaps an old hag or a retired wizard. But no-one important. Never more....


	2. Chapter 1: Vacation is over

-        Chapter 1 -

-        Vacation is Over -

In another place, a common wizards house on the countryside.

'Mtzlplx….'

'Hoot…hoot…hoot…'

'Leave me alone Alfred….it's vacation for crying out loud…'

'Hoot…hoot…hoot…'

'Grrr! I told you never to fly in at my window….And now I am awake! Thank you! I could have overslept as much as I wanted today, but nooooo, mister owl had to come because he probably carries something 'important' for little old me. And it's getting cold in here by the way!'

I walked to the window and closed it. Even though it was summer, the weather had been bad, there had been rain and heavy gusts of wind all the time. It was as if there was something wrong with the weather witches down at the Bureau of Weather Regulations (BWG). Oh, I forgot to mention my name. They call me Yorokei. Yorokei Tokisado. No, it isn't an English name. My parents once told me they named me after some Japanese warrior known for his courage. The name often caused people to talk about me with a certain mockery in their voice, but by now I had learned not really to care about that any more. Suddenly, Alfred, who was our house owl, flew on top of my head and started pecking me, to get my attention.

'Alfred! Stop it! Ow! Alright, alright, where is it?'

Alfred flew to my little desk, where a small envelope laid. It was closed with a seal. The seal was some kind of weapon. I had seen this somewhere before. Alfred started hooting heavily, meaning that he wanted me to open it quickly. Alfred always wanted to know everything to know. I opened the envelope. 

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)_

_Dear Mr Tokisado,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry. Inside this envelope, you will find a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term starts on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours sincerely,_

Minerva McGonnagall 

_Deputy Headmistress_

I crushed the paper in the hand out of excitement. I was going to be a wizard! Just like my entire family had been! Okay, it was quite obvious that I would be allowed to enrol at a wizard's school, but still, I was happy to have the final word out. I picked up the box of owl food I always kept on my room, and did some in a bowl for Alfred.

'Thanks Alfred. You are a great owl!'

I ran downstairs, into the living  room where I found my brother, Yoshiro, Yoshiro was born only a year later then me, and unlike a lot of the friends I knew, Yoshiro and I got along perfectly! Well, most of the time that is. Yoshiro turned his head towards me.

'Hey Yorokei. What's the rush?'

'Yoshiro! I got a place at Hogwarts! I am going to be a wizard, too!'

Yoshiro looked happy.'That's great!' He said.'Congratulations! When are you leaving?'

'What? Do you want me gone so soon?'

Yoshiro laughed.'Of course not. I will miss you, big brother.'

'And I will miss you, too. Promise me you make it to Hogwarts next year, okay?'

'DEAL!', Yoshiro grinned.'Have you told mom and dad yet?'

'Well, I was hoping to meet them here, but they aren't here, are they?'

'They went out for a walk with the dogs. They just left, so give them a half an hour. They will be back by then.'

'Okay', I said'.'I'd best start packing, then.'

'You could do that, right.'

So I went back upstairs and got the biggest trunk I could find out of the attic. Dragging it down to my room, I put it on my bed and opened it. A lot of dust came out of the trunk, it obviously hadn't been used for months, or maybe even years. Then I started putting stuff in the trunk. Problem was, I couldn't really leave anything behind. I had memories about everything that was there in my room. From the tiniest pen to the biggest poster. So I had to go trough a few 'selection rounds' in order to take the stuff I really needed and really wanted to have around.

'A few books…some clothes, not too many…a poster to hang up by my bed, but which one? A picturebook of my family…....'

Boy....A picturebook of my family. I would miss my family once I would get to study at Hogwarts....They were really important to me. For the first time I felt a bit guilty for leaving for so long. But I soon realized that father had been at Hogwarts just as well, so I continued packing stuff untill my trunk was full. By the time that was done (which, in my case was a days work for three house-elves), my parents have been long home. But in my pack-o-mania, I hadn't even noticed that. So I decided to go down and tell my mother the good news.

I ran downstairs and ran straight into the kitchen-the most common place to find any decent mother nowadays, weither she would be muggle or wizard-

'Mom! Mom! Guess what?'

'I know, I know.'

'You do?'

Mom turned around and smiled.'Of course I do. I AM your mother, remember?'

'But how-?'

'Yoshiro told me, you silly boy. Congratulations, honey.' Mom kissed me on the cheek and nearly hugged me to death.

'Mom....!' I said irritated.

'Oh, sorry honey', said mom as she let go of me.'It's just..well, it has been so long since, since...-'

Mom didn't finish that sentence. She looked as if she was pondering about something.

'Since what, mom?'

'....Well, since any member of our family has been studiying magic at Hogwarts!'

I walked towards the biscuit barrel and took some cookies from it and gobbled them up. I leaned against the doorpost as I ate some of them.

'Hmmmm....these are great!'

'Not with your mouth full, honey.'

'Sorry. Mom, I have been wanting to ask you.....I read this book that was upstairs in dads room just now, you know...Hogwarts through the ages or something?'

'Yes?'

'Well, it says there are for houses in which students will study. I was wondering, where did dad study again? I bet he was in Hufflepuff. That really is the kind of house for dad.'

'Your dad? Well, then you are terribly mistaken! No, your father wasn't in THAT house.'

'In which house was he then?'

'Your father was in Slytherin!'

'SLYTHERIN? Mom, get real! I have read only this little in that book and it states clear that Sltyherins have had a bad reputation throughout the ages! He couldn't have been a Slytherin! Dad is a nice guy! He works at a muggle television channel! He isn't some kind of weird, power-seeking, malovent wizard! He is a decent guy!'

'Well, your father has always been very ambitious. Much like you yourself. He always wanted to reach his goal and do the best he could. I suppose that is a good reason why he ended up in Slytherin.'

'But he DID reach his goals without cheating, right?'

'Yes, I think so. Of course, I wasn't there to check on him. I was at a muggle shool back then. I hadn't met your father yet. But I know him well, of course, and I do not think your father would willingly cheat his way into fame. He just...he just isn't like that!'

'Thank god he isn't'

'Amen.'

'Where is he now?'

'You know your father....always busy with his work. He is up on the balcony. Go ahead and see him, but remember that he is at work.'

'Sure, mom.'

Now about my father. My father is what muggles call a 'weather forecaster'. That is a person that comes on muggle television (dad says that is some box transmitting images for the viewing pleasure of muggles), to tell muggles what kind of weather they can expect for an upcoming period. Funny thing is, muggles actually believe that they can predict the weather with a bunch of crazy instruments like sattelites, computers and that sort of nonsense. But dad assured me, that almost all weather forecasters nowadays are wizards, pretending to be muggles. Since wizards can actually use magic to predict the weather, their predictions tend to be more accurate that muggle's predictions. As I walked up to the balcony, I saw dad sitting in his meditative pose. I could smell the inscense as I walked towards him. Then, I quietly sat down in the little chair in the corner of the balcony. I always enjoyed seeing my father predict the weather. With closed eyes, he took a card from his red, silk card sleeve, and put it face down in front of him. Then, he shuffled the cards and took the bottom two cards. These were placed under the card he just took from the deck, face down as well. He opened his eyes and took his wand from his robes. Then, he ticked each of the three cards with it, and said 'predictica'. The three cards re-arranged themselves, and dad looked at me.

'Hi Yorokei. Will you do the honours?'

'Sure.'

With the honours, dad meant the turning of the cards. I had done this a lot of times from the moment I was a child, and always enjoyed it. The first card had a dark cloud on it. The second had a thunder symbol, and the third a clear sky. Dad made a painfull smirk.

'That isn't too good....Lots of clouds, possibly rain and thunder in the afternoon. A slight chance that it will clear up, though...'

'When is that?'

'Next week. Well, better enjoy the good weather of now then, while it lasts.'

Dad looked at me, and grabbed me by the shoulders.

'So....you are going to Hogwarts then, aren't you?'

'Yes, dad. I am going to become a wizard. Just like you.'

'I am so proud. I hope you enjoy your stay there. I certainly did. Hogwarts is a really great place to study magic, I can tell you.'

'Dad.....I heard you studied in Slytherin from mom. Most people say that that is where all evil wizards come from.'

Dad smiled.'Sure, Slytherin has a bad reputation, but does it truly matter? During the sorting ritual, your house is chosen for you because of your own unique qualities. And I guess my qualties best fit by Slytherin. And besides....'

Dad looked at me with a smile, and said:'Do you think I am 'evil' or 'scary' at all?'

'Yes', I grinned.

'Well then, that's settled. I think that we should get you ready, then. You wil require a lot of equipment if you are going to study magic.'

'Are we going to go to-'

'Yes, Yorokei. We will go to Diagon Alley.'

And so, a week later, we went to Diagon Alley with the entire family. Both me and Yoshiro looked out our eyes at all the cool stuff we saw. Racing brooms, cool pets and horrible potions! It was amazing to see such an amount of wizards and witches packed in such a little street. First off, we went to do the thing I hated most of all: fit robes. Mom once bought me a set of robes when I was at the age of 8 for my grandma's 100th birthday, and the terror of a day long fitting robes that didn't seem to fit at all for some reason never left my mind. Mom pushed me into the store and told dad and Yoshiro to go and do some things for themselves. Meaning that what was going to happen to me next wasn't to be seen by people with common sense. Mom pushed me up on a stool, and a witch soon came along to take my size.

'Going to Hogwarts, young man?' Asked the dressing lady.

'Uhm...yeah. My first year', I anwsered. 

'Could you give him a nice colour of robes, miss? I was thinking about really yellow or pink robes. He is such a happy boy!'

I turned really red.'Mom....please...'

The lady started to laugh.'I am sorry to dissaptoint you, ma'am, but if he is going to Hogwarts, he will need black robes. It says that in the letters. Now straighten out your arms, please...'

Mom looked dissapointed.'And how about dress robes?'

'He won't need them', the lady said.'Only fourth year students and up need those. Besides, I don't think I have dress robes in his size in stock.'

The lady gave me a wink, and I realized she had some experience with mothers like mine. My mother went to sit, grumbling about the fact that she wasn't going to get thinks her way. I rest assured. Not a half an hour later, we left the store with brand new robes for me.

'Where do we go next, mom?'

'Well, your dad and Yoshiro would take care of the most common stuff....the only stuff we yet have to buy, is a pet and a wand.'

'Hurray!', I shouted.'A pet! I want a wolf!'

Mom looked a bit angry.'You are NOT going to get yourself a wolf.'

'Why not?', I asked dissapointed.

'Because the list clearly says that you may take an owl, a cat or a rat.'

I sighed.'Not much of a choice then. You can cross out the cats and rats already since I am allergic to them.'

'Not a cat or a rat, then', mom said.'How about an owl? It are amazing creatures! And functional! They deliver letters!'

'Guess I don't have much of a choice, then.'

We went into a place called 'Eeylops owl emperium', to look for owls. An old man immediately walked towards me.

'So, you must be another one of them youngsters who's come to get himself an owl as a pet?'

I knodded a little bit, and the man smiled.'Exellent! Well, we have got loads of owls here! mountainowls, snowowls, landowls, owls with feathers....owls without feathers, though I don't sell those a lot....wonder why not.'

The man took me by the arm and dragged me towards a cage wih an enormous brown owl inside.

'Now this...' He stroked the cage as if it was his most precious posession....'This is an Algerian mountain owl. A real beauty.'

Mom looked suspicous. 'Are there any mountains in Algeria, then?'

'No.', the man quikly replied.'And THAT is what makes it so special! An Algerian mountainowl...but no mountains at all in Algeria! Now that is what I call special! And I tell you, it's a bargain!'

'How much?', mom asked.

'For you....only 230 Galleons...and you get the cage in the bargain. So whaddya think?' 

'I think we are going to buy no pet for this boy this year.', mom said, and she quickly pushed me out of the shop.'Sorry honey. We will find you a pet while you are studiying so you can use it next year.'

'It's okay mom', I said. And we walked along the alley.

'Now all we have to get is your wand.' Said mom. She sighed.

'What's the matter mom? We are almost done! Besides, I thought you liked shopping.'

'Well, that's just it, honey....we are almost done shopping! And I still haven't gotten those ghost repelling candles for in the basement! I know a shop that sells them, but it is on the other side of Diagon Alley....I will never make it back in time AND help you buy your wand!'

'Now mom, then you just go there and I will buy that wand by myself. Those ghosts have been messing up our basement for so long....I don't want all you guys to have to bare them for another whole year!'

'But-but...I can't let you buy your wand yourself! You don't have the money, and also it is important that I am with you when you choose your wand! You musn't buy rubbish!'

'I won't! I am old enough! Please mom, I will be fine....'

Mom thought, and then gave in. She gave me some money and told me to go to Olivander's, which was supposed to be a wand selling shop. I soon found it and went into the shop. The shop was quite dark inside, and there were loads of cupboards with little boxes. There were wands in it most likely.

'Hello boy. How  can I help you?', said a voice from behind me. It was an old man, probably the owner of the shop.

'Eh....Hi. I am...'

'Firstyears? Going to Hogwarts? Need a wand?', the man smiled.

'Eh...yeah. Just that.'

'Okay...first....' The man picked a wand from his pocket and put it on a table. He beckoned towards the table. 'Come on! Pick it up!'

I walked toward the table and looked at the wand. Was that my wand? I didn't expect to find my wand so quickly! Eagerly to try it, I picked it up from the table. I was just about to wave with it a bit, when the old man took my hand by the wrist.

'Don't! Never use a wand that isn't yours!'

'Then why did you make me pick it up?'

'I needed to know which arm is your staff arm. It's the left, cause you picked up the wand with your left arm.'

I looked surprised. 'Left? But I am right-handed!'

'The staff arm is chosen at birth and is hidden away in your subconsious.  You can't deny it. Now, to find you a wand.....'

The man walked to a cupboard on his left hand and took out a box.

'Mahony. 7 inches. Dragon's blood runs in its core. Try it.'

The man pushed the wand into my left hand, and I gave it a wave. Little stars sprinkled from the tip of the wand. Excited, I looked back at the man.

'You would think that wand is the one, huh? No, it isn't. Lefthanded wizards shouldn't have stars shooting from their wands while testing them. But we will look. You will see, we will have found your wand within mere seconds.'

If the time it took were mere seconds, then A lifetime would last 9000 years. After waving with so many wands that I lost count of them, I was almost ready to give up. The man looked back at me. His face looked a bit worried.

'I think....that your wand is going to be very difficult to find....'

'Couldn't I just stick with the first one? It looked quite good to me!'

'No no no....It wouldn't be right. There is however.....'

He walked towards his desk and took a key from his pocket. With that, he opened a drawer. A little, metal box came out of it. It was covered in dust, inclining that it must have lied there for quite some time. The salesman blew the dust of of the box, and walked towards me.

'Now before I give you this wand....I want you to be carefull with it. It holds a lot of memories. But if this wand is truly destined to be yours....'

The litlle box was opened and a really, white light shined out of it. 

'Please pick it up...'

I took the wand out of the box. I couldn't really see it at first, because of the great amount of light it emitted, but when I held it tight in my hand, the light slowly faded away. When I first looked at the wand, I realized that this wand was something really special! Other then all wands I had ever seen before, this wand wasn't made of wood! It was a silver wand, with little runes inscribed in it. I couldn't read those of course, but it looked fantastic!

'This looks interesting.....wave your wand, now....'

I gave it a wave, and a lot of light sparkled from it. The wand salesman looked happy.

'Well then....so it's finally found it's rightfull owner.'

'Sorry?'

'This wand you are holding.....Was made by one of my ancestors over 200 years ago. It is one of the most mysterious wands I have in my shop, that is why I kept it in my personal drawer. Some people might be interested in stealing rare wands like that one.'

'I can see it is special...but can you tell me why exactly?'

'Well....it is the core of the wand, actually. The ancestor that made that wand, was once close to despair. Business wasn't going well, and he was very close to getting into a very deep depression. But then, one day, as he walked up a cliff, he saw a very great, white light. Quite like the one we have just seen. Somehow, that light made him stronger. He couldn't explain it! He was completely happy again! Wanted to start making wands! Thought of great ideas how to make a whole new generation of wands! As if he was suddenly pulled out of his depression! The light itself faded away after a few seconds, and all he found on the place where this happened, was a feather.'

'A feather?'

'Yes. He examined this feather, and it seemed to have strong magical powers. VERY strong magical powers. He took it to every specialist on wands and magical creatures, but none of them could tell him what kind of creature that feather may have came from, or how he could make it into a wand. Any kind of wood that he tried was instantly burned away by the feather as soon as the wand was finished. It seemed as if this powerfull feather was just too strong to be contained in a wand. But somehow, the feather still gave him the power to go on. After a long time of thinking, he invented something......a wood-silver alloy. That is why your wand is silver coloured. It is real silver inside that wand. Now you know the story of your wand....I hope it gives you just as much motivation and luck as it gave to my ancestor...'

I couldn't take my eyes of the wand. It took not long before my mother arrived, and payed for the wand, which was quite expensive. But as long as I promised to take good care of it, my mother permitted this huge amount of money to be spent. We met dad and Yoshiro back at the exit of Diagon Alley, and I looked over my shoulder down the alley. Mom looked at me.

'It is not the end, Yorokei.....you will see many things on your journey through the world of magic.'

'No mom...this is not the end....It is merely the beginning of a grand voyage...'

Slowly, the creature was leaving the ocean behind it, meaning it had traveled the longest part of its journey....soon the boy would start his....and when that time would come, it would be there to support him...the best it could....


	3. Chapter 2: A terribly turbulent train tr...

- Chapter 2 –

- A terribly turbulent train trip –

And so, no less then three days later, I found myself at King's Cross station, in the heart of London. The day of my departure to Hogwarts had arrived. King's Cross was really large in my eyes, though slighty less large then when I visited it last time: when I had been only 6 years old and we took a train trip to visit my grandparents in Glasgow. That day, we took the train rather then traveling by flu powder, because we wanted to see some more of the country then only fireplaces. My backpack was fully packed, and mom held my train ticket in her hand.

'Platform 9 ¾ , well, let's see.'

Mom took a look around, and counted.

'Nine....ten...', she then looked towards dad.

'Okasone....there IS no platform 9 ¾!'

My father grinned. 'Yes there is dear. I thought that, by now, you would have spent enough time in my magical world to learn and expect the unexpected! Look...!'

My father pointed towards a tall man and a boy that was pushing a carraige forward, loaded with stuff that clued that this was a magical family. Both of them walked towards the fence that seperated both platforms 9 and 10, and then...

'AAAH!', shouted my mother. 'They dissapeared!'

'No they didn't', dad said. 'Behind that fence is the platform we are looking for. Platform 9 ¾!'

'Why can't they just make the train look invisible to muggles or something? What if a wizard from a muggle family would have to find that platfrom?'

'I don't know', dad replied, 'but that doesn't really matter to us, now does it?'

'I guess not', said mom. 'Well then, let's go. Yorokei, you can go first.'

I flinched, and I slowly walked towards the fence. I could hear my father silently cheering for me from behind. I closed my eyes, and quickly ran right through the fence. Once I had the feeling I got through, I opened my eyes and gazed across....a huge platform. A sign was hanging above me, which in great curly letters was wrote 'Platform 9 ¾'. But what was next to me, was even more impressive. It was a really large, red steam train. A lot of wizard families were out there, probably to wave out their relatives. Speaking about family, the rest of mine had arrived on the platform as well.

'Well, there is your train Yorokei.', said dad. He looked at his watch.

'You have only five minutes till it leaves, so you better go get yourself a seat.'

I looked towards my family and was almost crying. That was one of my greatest weaknesses: I couldn't stand goodbyes. I hugged mom, dad and Yoshiro once and then quickly went inside the train. Experience with goobyes had learned me that that was the best way for me to coat with them. The train was already overflowing with students, but I found an empty compartment very quick, though. Not that I did not like anyone else to be in my compartment, but I had tears in my eyes and a moment alone was very welcome. As soon as I sat down, I heard that the engines of the train began running. I looked outside the window, and waved out my parents. 

'Keep it cool!', Yoshiro said.

'You can always send me an owl at work!', dad screamed.'

'I will miss you honey!', mom cried.

'I love you, too!', I said, and the train drove away.......and soon, my family was out of sight. And I myself was well on the way to Hogwarts.

My compartment however, remained empty. I put my legs stretched over the seat and my head against the wall, so I could relax. How long would it take for the train to get to Hogwarts? I had absolutely no idea. Maybe I should get some sleep to kill some time? Or just look outside at the scenery? After some consideration, I took my sketchbook out of my bag and a nice, sharp pencil. I started to draw-one of my biggest hobbies, and, if I may say so, one of my biggest talents as well-. What to draw? I just started putting some lines on my paper and sketch a human figure….what I usually did when I didn't have special inspiration to draw something. It al went along quite well. Soon, I had a cool figure on my paper of a ninja attacking another ninja. Now to draw the background, I thought, when suddenly the door of my compartment slightly opened. As I was sitting with my back towards the door, I turned my head to see who came in, but I saw nothing. Most likely the door simply had opened because of the wind blowing against it or a student bumping into it. I closed it again and then continued with my drawing. 

A few minutes later, I heard someone knocking on the door of my compartment. An old witch came in, with a cart loaded with magical food.

'All by yourself, boy?', she aked.

'Yes', I said. 'But not on purpose or something. Company is welcomed.'

The witch smiled. 'Do you want something from my cart? I hear today's Pumpkin Pasty's are delicious.'

I smiled back. 'Thanks. Can I have one of those, then?'

'Sure.' The witch handed me a Pumpkin Pasty. 'That will be 2 sickels please.'

I searched my pocket for some loose change and gave it to the witch. She put it in the drawer on the cart and looked at my sketchbook, that lied on the other couch.

'Is that your drawing?'

I turned slightly red. 'Uhm…yes. Yes it is.'

'You are good, you know that? You should consider making a profession out of that. Once you've finished studying at Hogwarts of course.'

'Thank you….'

'And what a cute pet! You don't see people with Cornish pixies as pets very often.'

'Pet? Cornish pixie?'

The witch pointed towards my feet. I looked at them, and at the end was….

'Aaaah! A Cornish pixie! How did that get there!?' The creature had a pink ribbon around its neck and wore tiny boots, making it look…how should I say that…very stupid. It jumped up and down near my feet and smiled at our surprised faces. That must have been what had opened the door and came in just a few minutes ago! The witch turned to me again.

'Isn't it yours, then?', the witch asked.

'No! No it isn't!'

'Better go find the owner, then. Cornish pixies are very reluctant following orders from anyone else then there owner and are known to make quite a mess….Look out!'

The pixie flew up to the luggage rack and started throwing down things from my backpack. It was an athletic sport by itself to avoid all the stuff he threw down. 

'Get off there you devilish creature!'

The creature looked down at me and slowly flew down, with both of his arms behind his back. It had a put on a really sorry face, and looked up at me.

'Well….that is good. Lets get you to your owner. Follow me, we will go find him.'

The pixie grinned. Not just a grin, but a really broad grin as if it had fulfilled its strongest desire. I looked at it closely.

'Wait a minute…..put your hands in the air!'

And then I knew why the pixie had grinned. Cause in his hands, he held….

'MY WAND! GIVE THAT BACK!'

But it was too late. The pixie had flown out of the compartment and was running down the train car by now. I looked at the witch with the food cart.

'Could you please look after my stuff for a minute?'

'Yes…of course! Get going!'

'I will!'

As I wanted to get running after the pixie, I fell onto the ground with a loud bang. The witch looked at me.

'Uh….it tied your shoe laces together…'

'I see..' I replied with sarcasm in my voice.

As soon as I got back on my feet, I started running through the train to find the pixie. I was fortunate to find it soon. The pixie stood close to the door of my compartment, taunting me with my wand. It was quite the mean little devil. I took a sprint towards it, but it quickly got back on its feet and started running itself, too. 

'Hey! Stop! Gimme back my wand!'

It ran inside another cart, which was full of students. They probably had wands to stop it! Now it would all come out well in the end. I walked into the compartment, where three girls in green robes were sitting. I pointed my finger towards the pixie, that have flown under one of the couches.

'Can one of you stop that pixie?'

One of the girls, with sleek, brown hair all the way to her shoulders, looked up from the book she was reading.

'Why should we bother?'

'Because it has my wand! Please! You have to stop it!'

'Listen, kid. This is a Slytherin compartment. We don't care.'

'Great! Then get out of my way!'

The pixie flew from underneath the couch and snatched the book out of the girls hand. He held it in front of her and tore it apart in front of her eyes. The girl looked pale.

'You..you tore apart my book! I hadn't even finished it! Now I will never know if Jen will escape from those vampires!'

I grinned towards the pixie.

'What comes around, goes around, I guess.'

The pixie flew away again and I ran straight after it, following it in its tracks. But it was very fast and so tiny that it easily could evade all my efforts to catch it. 

'Somebody please stop that pixie!', I screamed. 'It has my wand!'

All of the sudden, a compartment was opened, and a girl walked out of the door.

'Did anybody say a Cornish Pi-'

'Look out!'

I ran right into the girl, and we fell on the floor. The pixie almost laughed his eyes out of his skull. But when the girl stood up and looked towards the pixie, that smile soon turned into sorrow. The girl looked very angry at the pixie, that silently hovered in the air.

'Amadeus! What have you been up to?'

I got back on my feet and helped the girl to get back on hers. 'Do you know this pixie?', I asked. 'Is it yours?'

The girl went silent, still looking angry at the pixie.

'Yes. I am Stephany. Stephany Belladonna. And that is my pixie. Wolfgang Amadeus. But I just call it Amadeus. And Amadeus has been very naughty today…'

Amadeus saw the very angry face of Stephany and took a gamble. It quickly decided that it would better make itself scrace, before his mistress could punish him.

'Amadeus! You get back here!'

I quickly followed Amadeus. 'Sorry', I said, 'but I have to go! He still has my wand!'

'If you do capture him, please bring him back!'

'I will!'

Amadeus kept flying through the train. I do not know how many compartments I must have seen, or how many train carts I had run through following Amadeus. But it quickly seemed as if Amadeus had a way better condition then me. And my condition wasn't all the good to begin with. I must have been running for ten minutes at the least, and we came to the end of the cart. Amadeus wanted to open the door, but it was locked. I looked at the door, which had 'prefects only' on it. I had cornered him! Now he had no place to run!

'Give it up, Amadeus….there is no place to run now. You have had your fun.'

The pixie looked a bit down, since his fun was to an end. But then, suddenly, he saw something that pleased him. An open window. Amadeus flew towards it and held my wand outside the window, grinning gleefully.

'No…..no…you-you cant do that Amadeus! My wand! If it is lost, then I won't be able to study magic properly! Please Amadeus….don't!'

Amadeus almost let go of my wand then. He let it loose with all of his fingers, except its thumb. I was shaking. What if Amadeus would truly let go? What if….?

'Amadeus…if you do that…..I bet Stephany will be REALLY angry with you. And I do mean REALLY angry….'

Amadeus startled at the mere thought of that, and because of that, he dropped my wand. 

'No! NOOOO!', I screamed. As I rushed to the window, Amadeus flew straight out of it, and I could just see he had managed to catch my wand. But now, he flew up to the top of the train, and sat down there. He waved with my wand to taunt me, as I looked out the window.

'You pest! You stinking little pest!'

What to do now? I could go and get someone to help me, but by the time I would have found someone, Amadeus might have been long gone. Waiting for Stephany to come was also an option, but perhaps he would fly away when seeing his mistress angry. My best chance, I decided, was to face him head on. So, very slowly, I began climbing out of the window. Amadeus looked surprised of the fact that I continued my pursuit of him. The wind blew hard in my face, but I needed that wand….It was too precious to me to be lost! Suddenly, the door next to me opened. A boy stepped out, and looked at me climbing out of the window. 

'What do you think YOU are doing! Are you crazy or something! You could get killed for doing that!'

'Sorry! Can't talk right now!', I said, and I quickly climbed on top of the train. 

'Get back here!', the boy shouted out of the window. But I payed no attention to him. All my mind was focused on right now, was to catch that darn pixie and reclaim my wand. Amadeus flew further, on top of the train, and I tried following him. But the wind kept blowing me back. But Amadeus seemed to have the same problem. It was really struggling to get away from me, but because of his tiny mass he was blown back more then I was. Slowly I began to win distance on him. I was getting very close to him. By the end we got near to the end of the car, I reached out my hand, and tried to grab Amadeus. I missed! Another go….missed again! Just once more…..And then I caught it by one of its feet. I screamed against Amadeus because of the heavy wind.

'OKAY! SHOW IS OVER! GIVE ME BACK MY WAND NOW!'

But it wasn't over. Amadeus sinked his sharp, little teeth into my hand.

'OW!'

I let go again, and Amadeus flew into an open window of the car below. I assembled all of my courage and climbed down through the same window. Amadeus was already flying away. I was just about to start running again, when….

'Peskipiksi Pesternomi!'

Amadeus was hit by the spell, and fell stiff onto the ground. I looked at the place the shot had come from. The boy that had seen me climbing out of the window, stood there. He smiled.

'That will sort that matter…' He walked towards the pixie and picked up my wand, handing it over to me. 'I suppose this is what you were after?'

'Yes…thank you very much. That pixie caused me a lot of trouble.'

'Yeah….they can truly be irritating little devils. Even our Defense against the Dark Arts teacher had troubles with them last year, so I've heard….although he was a fraud. The only thing he was good at were memory charms.'

Surprised be all of this, I just went silent. The boy once again smiled at me. He walked towards me, seemingly studying me. Then, he reached out his hand.

'Peter Gollable. Sixth year student at Hogwarts and prefect of Ravenclaw house.'

I took his hand and shaked it exited.

'Yorokei Tokisado..first years student. So I don't know in which house I will be yet.'

'Pleased to meet you, Yorokei. So…fancy being in Ravenclaw?'

'Well….I think everything is okay. As long as I don't end up in Slytherin, I guess I will be fine….'

'That is a healthy point of view. Though I must admit there are cool people in Slytherin as well. Though there are only few. But, they are there.'

'Yeah, well…..I better be going back to my compartment again, if I can find it back. The witch with the food trolley must have been waiting for nearly a quarter of an hour there by now. Don't want to stall her any longer.'

'That's okay. I'm sure we will meet again once in Hogwarts.'

Peter looked at the pixie, and picked it up, handing it over to me.

'It will be paralysed like that for at least another half an hour. Better return it to its owner by then, or otherwise….'

I nodded. 'I get the point. Don't worry, I will fix it.'

'Good luck Yorokei. And see you soon.'

'See you soon, too, Peter!'

And I made my way back to my compartment. 

Walking back towards my compartment, I realized that my chase after the pixie hadn't been short in any way of speaking. I must have ran through the entire train, because it took me almost ten minutes to get back to my own compartment, just walking. When at long last I arrived at my compartment, I saw the witch with the food cart had gone, and Stephany was sitting in my compartment. She startled when she saw the unconscious pixie, which I just held in my hand.

'Amadeus! Oh, tell me he is okay! Please!'

'Well…he is.'

Stephany calmed down and looked towards me.

'I am sorry for….well…I should have looked after him, but he is so small and so easy to lose track of…And I felt sorry for you, so I looked up your compartment and dragged my own stuff over so you wouldn't have to come look for me, too. Did Amadeus give you a lot of trouble?'

I grinned.'Well…you could say he got me on top of things.'

Stephany flinched.'How do you mean…on top of things?'

'Well…he nearly dropped my wand outside the window, but managed to catch it, and after that, I had to follow him over the roof of the train, and.'

Stephany collapsed. 'The roof of the…the roof of the train…ohmygod..ohmygod..wait till my parents hear of this…'

I picked Stephany up and let her sit down in the compartment. The cage of Amadeus stood there, and I immediately threw him in and locked the door of the cage, so that he couldn't escape once his paralysed state would be over. Stephany looked pale, but besides that, she seemed allright.

'I hope you can forgive me for the behaviour of Amadeus….He usually isn't so troublesome, I wonder what made him so upset…'

'Well', I said, 'I DID mention you would come after him and that you would not be too pleased. That seemed to….shock him….a bit.'

Stephany blushed. She looked at me.

'We haven't been properly introduced. I am Stephany Belladonna.'

'And I am Yorokei Tokisado. Nice to meet you, Stephany.'

She looked at her luggage.'Do you mind if I keep you company on the rest of the trip?'

'Of course not. Company is always welcomed.'

Once inside our compartment, we had talks about all sorts of things. I told her about my father being a weather forecaster, and that he had studied at Slytherin. Stephany's parents were both born in the magical world, but had studied a school of music, and met each other there. Music was the great passion of their family, that was also why they had a pixie by the name of Wolfgang Amadeus. She said she could sing quite good herself, though she didn't dare to show me in an empty compartment, so I had no prove of that. 

As for Stephany herself, she proved to be quite a little chatterbox. She would do most of the talking during the trip, but I didn't mind because Stephany, unlike so many other girls, talked about things that really interested me, like her favourite magical creatures, how muggles slowly destroyed the natural enviroment with their cars, and about drawing and painting, a hobby we had in common. Stephany maked paitings, as where I made more drawings. But that didn't mind, the idea behind it was the same. And so we spoke the whole ride long, and had lots of fun playing with her travel set of wizards chess, a game we both fancied, but which she had to loose from me because of a wise double block I made with my towers.

As we came closer to our final destination, the weather took a turn for the worse. Heavy gusts of wind were banging against the windows, and rain came down as if thrown out of giant buckets, straight from the clouds. But suddenly, Stephany looked outside…

'Yorokei…it is getting really dark, don't you think?'

'Yeah….hey….is it just me…or has the train stopped.'

'It is not just you', Stephany answered.'The train has stopped allright, but we can't be there yet, can we?'

'Shall I go and look?', I asked.

'No…no, please stay here. I hate being alone at dark spots.'

I closed the door of our compartment and tried to see what happened outside. I saw a lot of students, seemingly hurrying back to their compartments. Something was in the train that must have scared them. Instinctively, I took my wand in my hand. Stephany gazed at my wand.

'It is emitting light…it is silver! But how…'

'I will tell you some other time…I don't like this…'

Suddenly, there was a loud bang on the door of our compartment. It opened, and a long figure, under a cloak, was coming into the compartment. I recognized the creature. I had seen pictures of them. It was a dementor from Azkaban! Probably it came looking for the runaway criminal, Sirius Black. But on the school train? It slided towards Stephany, who creeped into a corner and was slowly losing it.

'No…no get away! Get away!'

The dementor seemed to suck the happiness out of Stephany. And me, too, although it had less effect on me, probably because of the fact that I was less happy for some reasen. I reached out a rotten hand toward Stephany, who fainted. 

'STEPHANY! NO!'

I picked up my wand and pointed it at the dementor. The wand started to emit light, unusually bright light! 

'Go away…go away!'

The light grew stronger as I kept looking at the dementor, and then, all the sudden, the dementor flinched and retreated. It made its way out of the compartment as soon as is could. The dementor had been terrified by the light of my wand! I walked towards Stephany, who lied in the corner of the compartment, still fainted. I lied her on the couch, and then, a girl looked around the corner of our compartment.

'Oh dear!', she said, when she saw Stephany.'How could they! Dementors –in our Hogwarts Express!'

I looked at Stephany.'Is she going to be okay?'

'Yes', the girl answered.'I am a prefect of Gryffindor house. Here, take this.'

She handed me some chocolate.'Don't ask me why it is. I got orders from our new defense against the dark arts teacher. He says it will help. I need to go on now and see if there are any other students who fainted.'

The girl left the compartment. A few minutes later, Stephany regained consciousness. I gave her the chocolate, which indeed helped her feel better. We put on our new robes, and just as we were done, the train stopped. We had arrived at Hogwarts.

We stepped out of the train, looking around.

'Where to go from here?', I asked.

'Maybe they give out directions here somewhere.', Stephany replied. 

'Firs'-years this way!' Said an enormous bearded man who was standing at the station. I had never seen anyone that tall before! Stephany and I walked towards the giant, who waited until all other students had left the station, so that all first years would be with him.

'Ye all ther'? Good! We're gonna make a little trip over the lake to Hogwarts. Yep. See those boats over there? Four students per boat! Make yerselves at home!'

Stephany and I took a boat, and we were joined by two chatting girls, who barely even noticed us because of their chatting. As we rowed towards the giant castle, I saw a lila light falling from the sky.

'Yorokei! That must be a falling star! Think we can make a wish?'

'Well, I wish I won't have to study at Slytherin…'

'So do I…'

And the castle slowly came closer…..  


	4. Chapter 3: Fairy Tales

- Chapter 3 –

- Fairy Tales –

After the boat ride, we arrived at the big castle of Hogwarts. The Giant said goodbye to us, as a man with a pale face and greasy, black hair took us over from him. We entered the castle through the inmense high door. What I saw was amazing! It would be a disgrace to call the castle anything else but beautyfull. As we walked through the entrance hall, I couldn't help but notice the medieval artwork that was everywhere around me. There were all kinds of paintings on the walls, that were talking to each other as if it were the most normal thing to do. Which it was, of course. I turned my head slightly to the right, to see if there were any other interesting things to look at. I saw a little corridor, which somehow had an enormous magnitude on me, that I couldn't explain. Stephany looked at me, and saw me gazing towards the corridor.

'What is it, Yorokei?'

'There is something...something totally weird about that corridor over there. It is as if I simply HAVE to go there...I don't know.'

If only I could duck a bit, I might be able to squeeze myself through! I looked behind me and saw the other students were already in front of me, still following the witch with the long, pointed hat. I snuck towards the corridor and bended through my knees. I was just about to enter the corridor when I saw a little, shimmering light. Slowly I moved towards the light. It wasn't a light at all, but a small, really small creature, that laid down on the floor. It was shaped like a little human, but it had wings. The little creature was exhausted, as if it was attacked by something. I picked it up and held it between my hands. 

'Hang in there', I said, 'I will help you get back in shape. What's your name?'

The creature didn't answer. It looked like it was in really, really bad shape. 

'Listen. I will put you in my pocket. I have to get to some kind of sorting ritual. After I am sorted in my house, I will take you to someone who can heal you….well, that is, if I can find someone who can.'

'Thank you….', the little creature said. I put it in my pocket and ran back to the group of students. I found them waiting in front of a really large door. The wizard with the greasy hair stood in front of the door. I tried to look as innocent as possible, hoping no one noticed my temporary absence. The wizard however, looked at me with a strange glare. Maybe I hadn't snuck away as good as I thought I did. The wijzard began to speak.

'Welcome to Hogwarts, first years. In a few moments, you will meet the other students of the school, who are waiting for all of you in the Great Hall, which is beyond these doors. Before you can enrol Hogwarts, however, you need to be sorted into your houses. There are four houses in Hogwarts, and during your stay, your house will act as your family. You will be awarded points for you house for good prestations and behaviour, but you can also lose points for inappropriate behaviour…..'

The wizard's eyes looked towards me, as if I was to be warned. I just grinned a little bit, and the wizard continued.

'The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has a long line of history and has educated many great wizards of this time into what they are now. If you now please form a line, I will take you to the Great Hall, where the sorting ceremony will start in a few moments.'

The doors started to open slowly. The line began to move and we entered the Great Hall, one by one. Four long tables were in the hall, and a lot of students were there, cheering for us as we came in. At the end of all these tables was another table, were I could only see some adult persons sitting. Those people probably were teachers, I supposed. As I looked at them, I saw a man with a long silvery beard and hair to go with it. I had seen him in newspapers: it was Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of the school. Suddenly, my eyes met his. He looked at me, and looked worried at first. I stood there, still for at least ten seconds, looking at the professor, who seemed to study me. He blinked, and I was pushed from behind, as a hint that they wanted me to keep on walking. 

The wizard and the rest of the students had stopped walking by now. The witch stood next to a little stool, with a hat on it. One of the boys in front of me looked at the hat, and said:'I am not going to put on some dirty old hat. Forget it! It is below my standards!'

However, I seemed to be one of the little few students who noticed. The wizard asked everyone to be silent, and the entire Great Hall went quiet. The hat opened up, and it began to sing. Everyone listened to the hat as it sang its song.

_You may not think I'm pretty_

_You may not think I'm smart_

_You may not think I'm witty,_

_But I talk, that's a start._

_I may not be the best hat_

_To wear to parties, no_

_Fact is, did you know that,_

_I know where YOU should go._

_The Sorting Hat, that is my name_

_For sorting I was made_

_By four great wizards with great fame,_

_Wizards with a grade!_

_Gryffindor was always known_

_For his dare and courage_

_On his banner, the lion's shown,_

_A symbol to let free your rage_

_Hufflepuff was always loyal_

_Trustful till the end_

_A badger is their simple symbol_

_But that is just pretend_

_Ravenclaw had intellect,_

_A she was smart and wise_

_The raven suits their house perfect,_

_As their house will uprise_

_Slytherin possessed ambition_

_Far beyond them all_

_A snake is Slytherin's tradition_

_Their pride is meters tall_

_So be not shy, just try me on_

_I'll tell you in a second_

_I which house you truly belong_

_And I'm not to be reckoned_

 The wizard picked up a roll of parchment that had been lying on the stool.

'I will now start calling the names of the students who will have to put on the sorting hat. As soon as you hear your name, I want you to come over here and put on the hat. The hat will then sort you into your respective houses.....right were you belong...'

That last word 'belong' had a nasty twist added to it's tone, as if sorting into a house would be a punishment to some of the students. 

'Please step forward....Brown, Arthur.'

Arthur walked up to the chair and sat down. The wizard slowly lowered the sorting hat onto the boy's head. A few seconds later, the sorting hat shouted:

'HUFFLEPUFF!'

The Hufflepuff table cheered for Arthur as he walked towards them. So this was the sorting ceremony! That didn't seem so difficult! All I had to do, was put on the hat, wait till it shouted my house, and I would be off again. The wizard wrote something down on a big piece of parchement, probably the house that Arthur was assigned to. The wizard looked over our heads again.

'Belladonna, Stepany.'

Nervously, Stephany walked forward up to the stage.

'Wish me luck...', she whispered.

'Good luck', I whispered back.

Stephany sat down, and once again, the hat was lowered onto her head. She bit her upper lip and sat really still as the sorting had made its descision.

'RAVENCLAW!'

The Ravenclaw students cheered loud as Stephany walked towards their table. She smiled when she passed me, indicating that she was happy with the choice the sorting hat had made for her. And so the sorting ceremony continued.

'Dark, Danny'

'SLYTHERIN!'

'Elvenblood, Elysander'

'GRYFFINDOR!'

'Sickkle, Goldion'

'RAVENCLAW!'

'Sulphuryn, Roy'

'SLYTHERIN!'

'Tenderheart, Bianca'

'HUFFLEPUFF!'

'Tokisado, Yorokei'

So this was it. This was the moment of truth. The moment I would be sorted into my house. Slowly, I walked up to the stage and looked at the wizard, who looked me straight in the eyes. There was something about the way he looked at me, that made me feel uncomfortable, unwanted. Nevertheless, I sat down on the seat and the hat was lowered onto me. I heard a voice talking into my ear...it was the voice of the sorting hat.

'What do we have here....what is your name, boy?'

'Yorokei Tokisado...'

'Interesting...I remember some family members of you studiying here...yes...I put your father in Slytherin back then....would you like to follow your father in his footsteps?'

'Yes...in his footsteps...but not if that means following him into Slytherin. I have heard stories about that house that I didn't really like.'

'Well, in that case I can comfort you....you are not going to Slytherin....no...I am going to put you in another house. Let's see.....are you very courageous?'

'I...I don't know...I haven't been in a situatation yet which required real courage...'

'Still, It's in you...'

'Oh..'

'Perhaps Gryffindor will suit you well then!'

'Gryffindor sounds fine!'

'But it won't be where you end up to be.'

'It won't?'

'No. Let's see...ah, there is loyalty to the people you care for, too!'

'Which means?'

'That you should be in Hufflepuff! But..'

'But what?'

'There is another thing in you....above all else, you want to learn and explore...you love that! Any house would suit you well, but those skills make you a real student for...'

'RAVENCLAW!'

The wizard took the had off and looked grim at me. What did this mean? However, I was happy. I wasn't going to be in Slytherin! I was going to be in Ravenclaw! Right with Stephany! I ran towards the wild, cheering Ravenclaw table, and gave Stephany a hugg.

'Thank goodness you made it.', she said.

'Yes...thank god!'

A hand rested on my shoulder, and I looked over. It was Peter, the Ravenclaw prefect who I met in the train!

'Hi Yorokei. Congratulations with your placement in Ravenclaw.'

'Thanks, Peter....oh, this is Stephany by the way...owner of the cornish pixie...'

'THE cornish pixie?'

'Yes.'

Peter shook her hand.

'Peter Gollable. 6th years prefect of Ravenclaw house. Welcome to our house, Stephany. I hope you will like it here.'

'I think I will....the people seem nice enough and it ain't Slytherin!'

'Good, good'

Another wizard, very little, picked up the stool and the sorting hat, and carried them both out of the Great Hall.

'....Oh. I am going back to the prefect's table. Professor Dumbledore is going to speak.'

An old man stood up from the long table at the end of the Great Hall, where only elder people were sitting, probably teachers. He had a long, silvery beard, and looked very kind to me. A perfect headmaster, I'd say, judging by his appearance. Once everyone fell silent, the professor began to speak.

'Welcome....Welcome to another year at Hogwarts.! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious...'

The professor began to speak about the dementors that had been roaming the Hogwarts Express, the ones I barely hold at a distance with the help of the strange glow radiating from my wand. The Ministry of Magic had insisted on having dementors guarding the school, because of the escape of the dangerous criminal, Sirius Black, once a loyal henchmen of he-who-must-no-be-named. We would have to watch our steps around Hogwarts, since the dementors were merciless, or so Dumbledore said they were. 

'On a happier note.', professor Dumbledore said.', I am happy to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year.'

'Firstly, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.'

Professor Lupin looked a bit old in is used robes...but that didn't have to mean anything...he seemed nice enough to trust.

'as to our second new appointment,' Dumbledore continued,'Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that this place will be filled by none other then Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties.'

The huge, bearded man who had taken us across the lake, stood up from the table and, for some reason, got a great deal more of applause then professor Lupin. It took some time until the cheering stopped, and then professor Dumbledore took the word again.

'Well, I think that's everything of importance,' said Dumbledore.'Let the feast begin!'

Suddenly, the tables were filled with tonnes of food that looked delicious. There were mashed potatoes, saugages in tomato sauce, cans of pumpkin juice…it would be easier to count what wasn't on the table, then the other way around. I started filling my plate and ate until I couldn't take a single bite more. But something bothered me….as if I had forgotten something….

A few moments later, Peter took us to the Ravenclaw common room. There was a lot of interesting stuff to see on the way. We walked through dark corridors, up moving staircases and through portraits on the way to the common room. As Stephany and I were chatting, walking through an inmense corridor, A strange feeling creeped up on me. As if I was being watched. I stopped walking. Stephany looked at me, surprised.

'Something wrong, Yorokei?'

'Yes…something is watching me…'

Out from nothing, I heard a voice. An elder voice, of someone who sounded exhausted, yet…evil…

'So…you have arrived…now they will see…'

'What was that voice?'

Suddenly, I was ticked on the shoulder. Fear struck me by surprise, and I slowly turned around. There it was. A grinnig gargoyle sat on his pedestal, just grinning at me in fear.

'So…a first years huh? What do you know….what house did they put you in?'

'R-Ravenclaw…'

'Ravenclaw? You don't want to be there! Slytherin makes a true man out of you….and you need to be a real man if you want to survive here…'

'Survive…?How-How do you mean?'

'Well…..strange things happen at Hogwarts…let me tell you…a year ago, a girl just disappeared…everyone said she was dead, but some time later she came back…isn't that strange? People just disappearing and all…and then there is the dementors…scary bunch. Better look out for them. And they again…seem to be guarding the school from someone even more dangerous, the serial killer Sirius Black.'

'ARCHIBALD!'

It was Peter. He stood behind me and looked at the gargoyle with a face filled with anger.

'Busted', the gargoyle said.

'Don't mind Archibald, guys…he is always trying to scare new students, and he is good at it, except for the fact that he doesn't seem to realize that the students aren't THAT stupid.'

The gargoyle's face turned sad and he turned back to stone again. Peter smiled at me.

'You aren't going to tell me you let that creep scare you, are you?'

'Uh..no..'

Stephany giggled.'Liar !'

'Shht!', I said.

And so, after some time, we found ourselves in the Ravenclaw common room. I leant back in a comfortable chair and gave the day a thought….strange things had happened, and it had only been my first day. My wand was stolen by a pixie named Amadeus, I had prevented an attack of a dementor by merely pointing my wand at him, met a teacher with greasy hair that seemed to keep an eye on me, was frightened by a gargoyle, and there was something else…something I had forgotten, but I didn't know what. 

'I'm off to bed', Stephany said.'It's been quite a day…I am exhausted.'

'I think I will go too, in a moment', I replied.

'Good night, Yorokei.'

'Good night, Stephany.'

Stephany walked up the stairs, and I decided to do the same. I walked up to my dormitory, and took off my robes. As I pulled them out, I felt something in my pocket. I searched my pocket and I found.

'Oh my god! That is what I had forgotten!'

It was the little fairy creature that I had found when I entered the castle was still in my pocket. By now, it had fainted, and was barely breathing. It would certainly die if I wouldn't do something about it's condition fast! I put my robes back on and ran downstairs to the common room. What could I do? What would I do? Peter! Peter would know an answer! Thus I went looking for him in the common room, where he sat on an empty table. He didn't seem to be the bit surprised to see me. He smiled.

'So, Yorokei…back again? I thought you were off to bed….which you should be, really.'

'Peter…this is an emergency! Look!'

I let him see the fairy creature, and he looked very much surprised and worried.

'Where did you find this creature?'

'Downstairs! At the castle entrance! It is in bad shape, I think it's dying Peter!'

'You are right…this isn't good. You need to go see Hagrid straight away.'

'Hagrid?', I asked nervously,'Who is Hagrid?'

'Really huge guy. New Care of Magical Creatures teacher. He knows all there is to know about magical creatures.'

'Fine, fine, I will go to him, but where do I find him?'

'Hogwarts grounds. But you are not going to find your way back through the castle first time round on your own. I will come with you.'

'Thanks, Peter.'

It took a long while for me and Peter to get to the Hogwarts grounds, and get to Hagrid's hut. Peter knocked on the door.

'Hagrid? Hagrid are you there?'

'Hang on ther' a second.'

The door was opened by Hagrid. Standing so close to him, he looked even more gigantic then from a distance. He looked down at us.

'Peter…Ravenclaw house, right?'

'Yes..this is Yorokei, but that isn't of importance right now. What IS of importance, he holds in his hands. You must help us, Hagrid.'

Hagrid looked at the fairy in my hands and gasped.

'Great scott! Gimme her! She's ill! We gotta do som'thin fast!'

Hagrid picked up the fairy from my hands and put her on his table. He started examining her like a real professional. His big fingers seemed to make matters a bit more difficult for him, but nevertheless he worked smoothly and with big detail. Every now and then he would walk up to one of his cupboards and pick up a potion, then pour it into the mouth of the fairy. It was as if he was a one man intensive care. While he was working, he asked me a lot about the fairy and told me even more.

'So…wher' dya find her?'

'Is it a she?'

'Ya…you couldda seen that, if you looked some closer….'

'Sorry..I found her at the Hogwarts entrance. She just lied in some corridor, exhausted. After the sorting ceremony I completely forgot about her..'

'Don't feel bad…that happens..I forget things all the time. An' look at me! Teacher! Who'da guessed that?'

'Congratulations with your appointment, Hagrid', Peter said.

'Thanks. Now about the fairy…what we have here is a really rare species…so rare that they had been thought extinct fer lets say….four centuries…It is a highly intelligent fairy lifeform, that is able of conversation and speech at the same level as us. It is call'd a Finnish fairy, so you can guess where they origanlly came from..however, ther' were plenty 'o Finnish fairy's up till the 16th century…when people started hunting them down as pets.'

'Pets?'

'Yeah…and they didn't respect the fairies. So without truly devoted masters….'

'They died…'

'Totally extinct, we thaught…but here we have one..'

The fairy coughed, and seemed to regain consciousness.

'Ah…look…that worked…I gave her some 'o that rum I drink on special occasions..'

The fairy slowly opened her eyes and looked around.

'Where….am I..', she said with a high pitched voice.

'It's all right…', I said….you have been cured by a skilled professional.

Hagrid smiled as I said that, and turned slightly red.

'But I….have no time!', the fairy said. 'I must find Yorokei before it is too late!'

'Yorokei?'

'Yes…I must go!'

Hagrid put the fairy down.'Yer way to weak to go. Besides, you don't need to go. This is Yorokei right here!'

The fairy looked at me.'Are you Yorokei?'

'Yes..', I answered.'…Why do you want to talk to me?'

'I- I….'

A moment of silence fell. The fairy seemed to think, but something was bothering her…she couldn't remember everything, it seemed.

'No…I don't know! This…this is terrible! It is of great importance that I warn you…but I don't know for what!'

'Maybe she has amnesia.', Peter replied.

'I was attacked by a cat when I had arrived at Hogwarts…I was waiting for you to arrive, Yorokei..and then it happened. I barely escaped to a corridor and the cat left, but I was in bad shape…luckily…'

'Luckily what?'

'Luckily you found me', she said and blushed. 'I owe you my life. Thanks.'

'Must have been Mrs. Norris', Peter replied. 'That stinky cat always attacks anything she doen't like.'

'Well….you own your life to Hagrid, I think…', I said.

Hagrid grinned.'Nah. Ye're the one who found her. Ya saved her. You are a darn hero.'

The fairy stood up from the table and began to glow…in a few seconds, no more of her was to be seen than a shiny, lila light bulb, flying around.

'My name is Lily. And I will stay with you, master Yorokei…until I know what I am supposed to tell you.'

I looked at Lily.'That is fine….under one condition.'

'Yes?'

'Don't call me master. Yorokei will do fine.'

'Yay!, Lily replied.'

And so, I got my very own fairy companion. But a fairy companion with a lot of mysteries surrounding her. She was here to warn me…to tell me something. But she couldn't remember what. What did she have to tell me? Would she ever remember? Questions that might take some time to get an answer to. 


	5. Chapter 4: A Dash of Slytherin

-        Chapter 4 -

-   A dash of Slytherin -

'Yorokei! Get up!'

'Don't want to….I am soooo tired..'

'You are gonna be late for class!'

'No I am no-…..who is this talking anyway?'

Slowly, I awoke from my slumber. I rubbed my eyes and looked through the room. I saw no-one. Then who had been talking to me?

'YOROKEI!' A little light bulb flew right before my eyes.

'AAH! Who are you?'

'Don't you remember?'

'Well…I remember your voice..'

The light bulb landed on a stool and slowly began to lose its glow. When the glow had stopped, it appeared to be a little girl with wings.

'Ah! It's you, Lily! I am sorry I didn't recognize you!'

'That's okay…I don't glow when I am in bad shape. That is why you could see my bodily form so good yesterday. But most of the time, I glow and when I do, you don't see me like this.'

'Ah, okay…that explains…'

'Yes, but now you must hurry! You are gonna be late for class! All the other boys have already left and I bet you have a class waiting, too!'

Quickly, I jumped out of my bed and started rummaging through my pockets to find my timetable.

'Boy, you DO make a mess out of your stuff, don't you?', Lily laughed.

'Not funny', I said.'It's a boy's thing! Can I help it? Ah! Here it is!'

I pulled the timetable out of my pocket and looked at it.

'Potions class with Hufflepuff. This timetable says it's down in the dungeons and will start in ten minutes! Oh no! And I am not even dressed yet!'

'Better make a move on, then!', Lily said.

It took me nearly ten minutes to get dressed, and another ten minutes to make my way down to the dungeons of the school. The dungeons certainly gave credit to their name. Slime came dripping down the walls, and because the lack of light sources (except for a few torches that burned down in the dungeons), I could barely see where I was going, making it even harder for me to find the potions classroom. Lily flew ahead of me, looking if she could find it.

'These dungeons are like a giant maze!', she said.'How are you supposed to find your way through here?'

'Lucky me I've got you then.'

'You certainly are….ah! Here it is!'

Lily flew in front of the classroom door. 

'Thanks Lily.'

'No problem. I owe you a lot for saving my life.'

I knocked the classroom door twice, and then slowly opened the door. The other students looked over their shoulders towards me, totally silent.

'Sorry I am late..', I said.'It took me more time to find this classroom then I had expected!'

Slowly, a teacher arose from his desk and walked towards me. This must be professor Snape, I thought, since I had read his name for this class in the timetable. I took a better look at him, and then startled…..it was the same teacher with the greasy hair who busted me for walking away at the entrance of the castle. He swooped his cloak over his shoulder and came close to me, looking down at me as if I were something foul he had stepped on. You didn't need any magic powers to see that he wasn't too happy about me coming late.

'So….who do we have here…..?'

'Yorokei Tokisado, professor Snape…and I am terribly sorry for being late!'

'Ah..now I remember…you do seem to have a gift for being 'late', don't you?'

I didn't like the look on his face as he said that. His face was filled with an expression that had something of glee in it, but also something of anger. It was really hard to look him straight in the eyes, but then again, the risks of what might happen if I wouldn't do so would also be really nasty, so I just kept looking into his deep, cold eyes.

'Yes….first, on the Hogwarts express, you were 'late' in stopping a Cornish Pixie from tearing apart a poor Slytherin girl's book…you could have stopped the creature, but chose not to….Second, even before you had been sorted into your house, you snuck away at the entrance of the castle. Who know what damage you could have caused to the ancient artwork in this beautyfull castle? Have you ever even thaught about that? For a moment?'

'I…uhm..'

'And third, you come LATE in your very first class! MY class!'

All the other students looked at me, and then at Snape. The looks on their faces gave me the idea that they didn't like professor Snape any more then I did right now.

'Five points from Ravenclaw for this…..childish behavious…And now, SIT!'

Snape pointed at a seat in front of the class. I sat down and Snape walked back to his desk, focussing his attention to the class again.

'Good morning…I am Professor Snape, Headmaster of Slytherin house and in case your lame brains have forgotten: this is potion class and that makes me your potions teacher. Let what I just did to this…Ravenclaw 'excuse' for a student be a warning to all of you. Insubordination, cheating and practical jokes in all sizes and shapes are under no circumstances allowed in my class, and house points are easily deducted if any of these things might happen under my supervision…'

Professor Snape certainly had 'something strange' about him. While talking, he kept on walking through his classroom, like a predator stalking his helpless prey before totally devouring it. I didn't like him, and by the looks of the other students, no one else really did fancy professor Snape. Professor Snape started talking about the subject he gave: the art of potionmaking.

'Potionmaking is a delicate science. For instance, one drop of wolfsbane can cure this harmless sleeping potion into a deadly and highly effective venom.'

Snape said that with some kind of happiness in his voice, as if he was enjoying the  very fact of scaring us with this kind of information. Of course, I was impressed, but to say he scared me with that kind of talk…no.

'It is because of simple but dangerous things like this, that fooling around in this class wouldn't be wise. Besides killing you off, which of course we don't want to happen…., it will also cost you house points. MANY house points. Now all move to your cauldrons. Two students per cauldron. I will give you ingredients and instructions once you are finished. Come on, I am waiting!'

Stephany had already found a spot with another student, so I went looking for a student that was still single. Of course, I was once again the one with the luck to be left alone. 

'Nobody wants to be friends with you, mister Tokisado?'

Professor Snape smiled with an evil grin as he said that. He pointed towards the back of the classroom, where an empty cauldron stood.

'You go over there. That kid is still on his own. Although I don't think YOU are going to be much of a help to him….'

I went over to the cauldron, and to my biggest surprise, I found that the student wasn't a human, but a goblin! The little boy had a very long nose, and looked at me, excited and smiling.

'Sickkle! Boom! I am Goldion!'

'Uh…I am Yorokei..'

'Yes, right! The one who came too late! Boom-bad!'

'Well….I just overslept… a little.'

'Me saw you still sleeping! You in Ravenclaw, are not?'

'Yes…you too?'

'Goldion Sickkle! Proud member of the Sickkle family, a goblin dynasty, and first ever to study at Hogwarts! Me is as happy as ten Sickkles in a bag!'

'You didn't answer my question…or did you?'

'No! And answer is yes! Me is in Ravenclaw!'

'I wasn't aware of the fact that goblins are allowed to study at Hogwarts nowadays.'

'Oh yes! Certainly are! Boom! Thanks to Sickkle-good law of goblin rights!'

'Oh..okay…'

'Yorokei had better be silent. There comes Professor Snape…Boom-awfull guy.'

'Yes…he is boom-awfull…'

'Boom-bad-awfull.'

Snape gave us some ingredients and looked at us as if we were the odd couple. Though Goldion might be fit for that description, I certainly wasn't, but I decided to let it go. Perhaps Professor Snape just didn't have his day or something….or maybe he was going to be that cold and hatefull the entire year. I hated the mere thought of that. Snape went back to the front of the class and stepped behind his own cauldron.

'Alright…Today we will require chopped lavender-root. You chop the lavender root into four pieces and put it into the cauldron. Next, you will be adding  three cups of water. Measure the cups correctly, too much water will make the potions useless. Then, add the magmastone, and the water will turn red. Finally, you add three drops of newt essence to the potion. Now get to work.'

I took a look at were the ingridients lied, but there were no ingredients left. Looking back at my cauldron, I saw what had happened to them: Goldion had already picked up the whole bunch and was adding the ingredients to the cauldron randomly.

'Boom! And some chopped magmastone!' Goldion picked up the magmastone and started using his knife on it, to no avail of course.

'Uhm...Goldion, can I ask you something?'

'Yes, Yorokei?!'

'What have you put into the cauldron?'

'Ah! Like as professor Snape said!'

'I am sorry Goldion, but I don't recall professor Snape mentioning chopped magmastone....'

'Oh no? I must have heard wrong! But don't worry! I added three cups of newt essence, and the lavender root!'

'The ENTIRE lavender root?'

'Yes...Like professor Snape mentioned! And next, I will be boom-adding three drops of water!'

Goldion ran back to the cauldron and started putting in the water drops. The concuction in the cauldron started bubling like mad.

'Goldion! I think we better call professor Snape before you add that!'

'No, Goldion will be fine! That is two drops...'

The potion turned gooey and pitch-black like it were tar. Goldion's enthousiasm however, proved limitless, and he carried on as if all was going as he had planned. But I had enough. I waved with my hand, calling professor Snape.

'Professor Snape! Over here!'

Professor Snape didn't even look up from his work. He seemed not to hear me.

'Professor Snape, PLEASE!'

Goldion ticked me on the shoulder. He pointed at the cauldron.

'Three! Three drops of water!'

The cauldron grew and grew, becoming bigger and bigger. It was going to explode! Students that were working near our cauldron, also walked away from it, afraid of it exploding, probably.

'PROFESSOR SNAPE!!!!'

Professor Snape finally looked up from his cauldron, but then...

It was too late.

'BAROOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!' 

The cauldron exploded, and the concuction flew all through the classroom. The other students looked dazzled, Goldion looked excited and then there was professor Snape, who looked...well....MAD.

'WHAT DID YOU DO?!'

'Well, Goldion...he was adding...'

'Do NOT try to push your mistakes onto another student!'

'But I didn't...', I said.

'No, he didn't', Goldion tried to say.

'What did you put in this potion? Huh?! Weren't you paying attention to my instructions? Was your brain late again?'

Now I knew it for sure. Professor Snape didn't like me, and the chance that he would start liking me in the future was very unlikely after this fiasco, even though I didn't cause any of it. And Snape knew I didn't. I just knew he did. But for some reason, he liked making life at Hogwarts hard for me. 

'FIFTEEN POINTS!.....Will be taken from Ravenclaw! And you will be cleaning up this classroom, with no help of magic! Now get working!'

It took me a lot of time to clean up the classroom, but I was lucky enough to have had a break after my potions class, so that I didn't miss any of my other classes. I walked back up to the first floor of the castle again, and sat down on a couch there. Lily flew around my head, talking to me about Snape.

'I don't like that guy! He has something against you! It's hardly fair!'

'Tell me about it.'

I opened my bag and searched it for my timetable. 

'Ah. Charms. Professor Flitwick. Hopefully he's a nicer guy then Snape.'

'I am sure of that.'

I laughed. 'How can you be so sure?'

'Worse then Snape? The headmaster of Slytherin?'

'Yes....I suppose that's true.'

'Okay....well, where is this Charms class?'

'3rd floor. It will be starting in half an hour, so I have got plenty of time. But remember, I have to find my way there, first.'

'Better get going, then.'

We walked on through the castle's many corridors, navigating our way to the 3rd floor. In the mean time, I talked with Lily about what had happened to her. She still suffered memory loss.

'So...you really don't know who sent you to me?'

'No....it is strange. I only know the last words he said to me.'

'Well, at least we know it's a 'he', then. What were those words?'

'His fate, and maybe that of the entire world lies in the succes of this mission. It is imperrative that this mission is of succes! I hate to think what would happen if something would go seriously wrong....'

'And I am...'

'Yes. I am sure of that. You are the one he is talking about.'

'You don't have ANY idea that might give us a single clue about what you had to warn me about?'

'No. I also remember that is was of vital essence to warn you for the dreadfull things that might befall you.'

'No worries, then.'

Lily looked surprised. 'Why not?'

'They must have been talking about Snape.'

'Ha ha...very funny.' Lily obviously wasn't amused.

'Well, maybe I should knock you on the head or something. You read that in books. People with amnesia get knocked on their head to remember the things that they had forgotten. Want to give it a try?'

'No thanks', Lily replied.

After a short walk, we ended up finding ourselves in an empty corridor. Well, it wasn't empty for real. I saw two students there: a boy with short, black hair and a pale face, and a girl with long blond hair. The girl stood against the wall, the boy kept his wand pointed towards her chest. My guess was they weren't friends. I walked closer, and overheard the conversation.

'If anyone EVER finds out...'

'Please, Roy...I-I found out by accident! I won't tell anyone, I promise!'

'That's the wise thing to say. But my father taught me one thing...never to trust any student that isn't in Slytherin...and certainly not if they are from a house as stupid as Hufflepuff!'

The boy pointed his wand at the girl's nose. Tiny drops of sweat came dripping down hear front head. She was scared of the boy. Terribly scared.

'No Roy, please...I won't tell! Why should I? What's in it for me?'

'What's in it for you?! Mocking me! Humiliating me! That's in it for you! You filthy piece of mudblood outcast!'

The boy grabbed the girl by her wrist, and the girl screamed. Now I had enough, and I walked up to the boy.

'Hey! You let her go!'

The boy looked surprised to see me, the girl as well. Of course, they hadn't been aware of someone overhearing their conversation. The boy kept the girl by her wrist and looked at me with his eyes narrowed.

'You better get away if you know what's good for you', the boy said.

'Well, that's the same advise that I wanted to give you', I replied. 'Let go of the girl. Who do you think you are, insulting the house she is in and calling her a mudblood?'

'That's none of your concern!'

The girl looked at me in despair. 'Please....don't try to help me...I will be fine.'

'SHUT UP!'

The boy now pointed his wand at the girl, and I was certain that he was going to cast a spell. In a reflex, I picked up my own wand and pointed it at the boy.

'LET HER GO!'

Though I didn't really cast a spell when I pulled my wand, at my words of anger, the wand began to glow once again in it's brilliant light. The boy looked confused.

'What the...?'

A ray of light shot at the boy, and he flew back 30 feet through the corridor.      He landed face down on the floor, and watched over his shoulder towards me. Then, he just stood up and walked out of the corridor, probably frightend of what might happen if he would come back again. The girl looked at me, and came walking towards me. Then, suddenly, wrapped her arms around me.

'Thank you...' She said. 

There were tears in her eyes. 

'He has been following me around all day yesterday and today as well..just because of..'

'Because of what?', I asked.

'No....no I can't tell...'

'It's okay....please....let's find a place to sit down.' I guided the girl towards empty classroom and we sat down.

'Who was that guy?'

The girl wiped away her tears and looked at me. 'Roy Sulphuryn....he is from Slytherin.....but I guess you already figured that out.'

'Please..no more. I have had my dash of Slytherin for today.'

A smile came on the girl's face. 'Not everyone in Slytherin is that way...but yes, a lot of them are...'

We fell silent for a moment. I looked at the girl's face. She had long, blond hair, and beautifull blue eyes. She looked happy and sad at the same time. And there was something about her...something that I felt, but couldn't describe with any words. As if there was more to this girl then at first sight.

'So...and what is your name?', she asked.

'Yorokei Tokisado...from Ravenclaw house.'

'I am Bianca Birdwing. Hufflepuff house.'

Suddenly, Lily came to fly in front of me. She had flown behind my back all the time.

'And this is my companion, Lily.'

Bianca laughed with exitement and looked at Lily. 'A fairy! And a beautyfull one, too! How cool!'

'Yes...I found her yesterday you know....she was attacked by a cat.'

'Really? Well, you better look after her, then. Maybe that cat will come back.

Lily bounced up and down through the sky. 'Yorokei has a natural gift for saving people! He told me he saved a girl in his train compartment from a dementor, he saved me, and now he has saved you, too.'

Bianca grinned. 'So, a true super hero, huh?'

'Not on purpose', I replied as I turned red.

'Oh goodness! How late is it?' Bianca took out her watch. 'Almost 11 'o clock! I have to get going! Transfiguration is next!'

'Me too. I have Charms.'

We moved our ways out of the classroom and said goodbye to each other. Bianca once again thanked me for what I did, and I did nothing but remaining silent about that. She walked away towards the staircase, and I just looked at her. She was....

'HEY! EARTH TO YOROKEI!'

'Huh? What?'

'Get your head out of that cloud, Yorokei! You don't want to be late for your second class as well, do you?!'

'No Lily....thanks.'

I ran to through the the corridor, wondering what happened between Bianca and that boy from Slytherin, Roy. Would Roy have reported my 'attack' on him to professor Snape? I certainly hoped not. My first day at Hogwarts had left me with a thaught I would never forget: Slytherin indeed did well in following it's reputation.....


	6. Chapter 5: Lily's Royal RendezVous

- Chapter 5 –

- Lily's Royal Rendez-vous –

Time never really stood still at Hogwarts. By the time it was friday, the end of the week already, Lily still didn't have a clue of what she had to tell me about, and professor Snape still hadn't changed his attitude against me. Most student assured me that professor Snape gave me the usual treatment, and that all students sooner or later would get that kind of treatment from him, so I was lucky to be having it so soon.

After properly washing myself, I walked down to the common room, where I found Stephany. She was looking at her timetable, biting her nails.

'What's up Stephany? Let me guess! Potions Class?'

'Well….maybe even worse…'

'What could be worse?'

I took a look on the timetable.

'Flying lessons? Is that what you're all that nervous about?'

'I can't fly! I am scared! What if my broom goes wild? What if I am a terrible broom pilot?'

I grinned. 'It'll mess up your hair!'

'My hair? Oh no! God save me my hair!'

'That was a joke, Stephany! I was just kidding!' I said upon seeing her hysterical face.

'Good morning class!'

'Good morning Madame Hooch!'

There we were, at the flying pitch. The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students. In front of us, there was a row of brooms.

'What a rotten quality of brooms!', said one of the boys from Hufflepuff. 'I can only fly on a Nimbus model!'

I took a quick look at the brooms. They looked in great state to me. But then again, every broom looked the same to me. I just wasn't really interested in them. Still, flying on one seemed very cool to me. My father also often flew on brooms to examine low hanging clouds. I hoped that I would be a reasonable flyer, too.

'Welcome to your very first flying class, first-years! Flying isn't something you learn in a cinch! It has to do with talent, practice and determination! Now, go and step next to your broom.'

We all walked forward, up to our brooms.

'Hold your arm above it, and say 'up'!'

We did as Madame Hooch told us. I called my broom, and it instantly flew into my hand. I was quite surprised by this. Most of the other students had big problems with getting their brooms simply off the ground!'

Madame Hooch walked towards me, looking at me.

'So, boy. What's your name?'

'Yorokei Tokisado, Madame Hooch.'

'Tokisado? Interesting……'

She walked around me and the broom once, examining me.

'Mount your broom, please. Come on. I have got a feeling that you might do good in a Quidditch team.'

'Q-q-quidditch team? I don't know…..'

'Try it. I bet you are a natural. Now, mount that broom of yours!'

I stepped on my broom. The other students watched with their mouths open. I pulled back the front of my broom to hover up, what worked. But it didn't feel all that natural to me. 

'Okay! Now you have to let it move forward!', Madame Hooch yelled up to me.

'You can do it Yorokei!', Stephany yelled.

'Yorokei!', another girl said. 

It was Bianca. Seeing her cheering for me made me feel very proud, and I pushed my broom forward, letting it gently soar through the sky. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the ride…..this was great. The wind was rushing through my hair! I was totally free!

But something wasn't right. The wind indeed was rushing through my hair….but it was rushing through my hair really quick. And I didn't hear any of the cheering any more! I opened my eyes and looked in front of me. I was eye in eye with nothing else then…

'A tree! Move, move!'

I pulled my broom, and could avoid the tree. But my broom was totally out of control! It was by then that I realised: I wasn't a natural! I was an amateur and couldn't fly a broom if my life depended on it! That wind, rushing through the air was nothing but me falling from the sky! I tried pulling my broom on all the sides, but I flew through the air like a drunken buzzard without it's flying license. 

'Rotten thing! Where is the manual?! How do you fly this thing? DO you even fly it?!'

My broom passed a tree left, a rock on the right, flew over a big bunch of bushes. And then, I came eye to eye with another rock. I couldn't avoid it any more, and crashed into it. Slowly, everything around me, turned black……

'Get up, Yorokei!'

'My head hurts.'

'Get up, Yorokei!'

'I just crash-landed against a rock. Give me some time to recover.'

'By the time you have recovered, it could be too late.'

A fire started burning in front of my face. Behind it was the silhouette of a cloaked person.

'If you wait too long, it might be too late for us. Now get up.'

I was pulled up as by magic, and the person began talking.

'Do you fully realise who you are?'

'I am Yorokei Tokisado…'

'You have a task to fullfill Yorokei! A task that can change the fate of the world! The fate of this world depends on you!'

'Lily told me….who are you?'

'Get up!'

'What?'

'GET UP!'

Two hooves came staight at me, trying to crush me beneath them. I quickly rolled away and looked what it was. It was a centaur. And it didn't look too pleased to see me. It stood still and looked down on me. My head still hurt from the fall. I felt my head with my hand, and found that I was bleeding heavily. The centaur, however, didn´t even seem to have noticed that. 

'You came to steal my treasure! MY treasure!'

I looked around, still drowsy. 'What treasure?'

The centaur pointed behind me. Under the rock I had flown into, was a big pile of food. Could this be the treasure the centaur had mentioned?

'You mean the food? I am sorry....I was flying on my broom, see? Or for what it's worth calling flying....anyway, I collapsed against this rock! Look, my head! I am injured! Do you think I willingly crashed into this rock? And even if so...I don't want this treasure...you can keep it!'

The centaur looked mad, and walked towards me.

'SO! You are saiying that my treasure isn't good enough for you? That the treasure I have been busy to gather for so many months is just a pile of junk?' 

'Well…no, I wasn't saying that…'

'So you DID come to steal it then! That's it! I will crush you under my hooves!'

Quickly, I rolled over, and stood up on my feet. That was heavy for me, I was still feeling very drowsy. The centaur looked at me. I realized that centaurs were really smart beings. Great. That was just my luck. Of all the centaurs in the world, I had to encounter the most dense and stupid centaur around.

'You can't escape me!'

I picked up my wand from my robes and tried to aim it at the centaur. But My aim wasn't perfect because of my drowsiness. Yet, it was the only option I had, so I screamed a spell and sent it towards the centaur.

'TARANTELLEGRA!'

But my aim was off too much, and the wand fell out of my hand. I had to run, since the centaur's hooves were once again falling down on me. How was I going to survive this? A miracle had to happen in order to save me now. I ran across the field, and that allowed me to avoid the most of the centaur's attacks. But then, suddenly, I tripped over a twig on the ground, and lied there. Unable to get up because of the bad shape I was in. And the centaur came even closer. He looked at me and let out a roaring laugh.

'This is the end of the road for you, mister….say goodbye.'

For the last time, he put up his hooves and came down….and then…

'FLIPENDO!'

The centaur was hit with a spell, and flew backwards, landing with it's head on a rock. It was out cold. What had hit him? I looked over my shoulder to where the spell had come from, but nothing was there. I slowly got back on my feet, getting the feeling that it became harder every time I did so. Still, no sight of my rescuer. How odd…

'Are you looking for me?'

That was a boy's voice. Where did it come from?

'Over here. Up in the tree.'

I looked up to the trees. In one of them sat a long boy, with long blond hair and pointy ears. He smiled down at me, and elegantly jumped out of the tree. He walked towards the unconscious centaur, and smiled.

'This one….has quite a temper. And a bad one, too. I had to fight him off before…'

I looked at the boy, who looked amused. He walked towards me and looked at my wounds.

'We better get you back to the castle, fast. You look as if you have been in better shape.'

'Thanks, but…who are you? And how did you get here?'

The boy just smiled, as if he had expected that question.

'I am Elysander Elvenblood. First years student, Griffyndor….and were we just came from is my favourite private training spot. I have studied magic back at where I come from already. I know quite some spells. I like being on my own at the spot where we just were, because it relaxes me, and it is so serene and quiet….I really feel like being home when I can train there….it calms me.'

As we walked through the woods, it seemed that Elysander had some strange kind of bond with the forest and the creatures that inhabited it. As he walked on, little birds would land on his shoulder, and rabbits would hop near him with his pace. The only thing Elysander did, was smiling. He remained all calm, as if nature itself passed right through him, as if he and the nature around him were one being, not to be seperated from each other. I figured that was something all elves would have, because dad use to tell us a lot about other magical creatures, too, including elves.

'But that was one heck of a crash you made back there! What happened?'

'Flying lessons....I thaught I was a natural...'

'You werent, I see....'

'No.'

Elysander looked around in the forest, seemingly to nowhere.

'I want to be a beater someday....I think I'd make a very good one, too. I have practiced a lot back at my folk's home. '

'Really?'

'Yeah....how about you? You like quidditch? What's your favourite quidditch team?'

'Well...I don't watch quidditch matches that often, but if you ask a member of my family for their favourite team: Puddlemere United!'

And so a debate about quidditch began. Elysander was a fan of the Kenmare Kestrels. We talked about quidditch a bit, and then, someone came flying from the sky, on a broom.

'Yorokei!'

I watched up into the sky. It was none other then...

'Stephany?'

Stephany looked behind her. 'Madame Hooch! Over here! I found him!'

Gently, Stephany landed, and she stepped off off her broom.

'Yorokei! You are hurt? What happened? Did you crashland?'

Elyander laughed out loud.

'That! AND he had words with a grumpy centaur!'

'Not funny, he nearly killed me!'

'I saved him.'

'Yeah….'

Madame Hooch landed next to Stephany, and looked at me. Her face was terribly pale, she was schocked, but glad that she'd found me. 

'I-so sorry…but your….he was…okay, eh…how are you? Can you walk? How many fingers?'

'Madame Hooch, I'm fine…..the bleeding stopped I believed.'

'Step on the back of my broom! I am going to take you to the hospital wing.'

I sighed…I'd rather had walked back to the castle with Elysander then trying to step on another broom ever again, but looking at the face of Madame Hooch, which showed no room for objection, I had no choice. I stepped on the broom, and we took of. Madame Hooch looked at Elysander for a moment.

'You. Come to the hospital wing as soon as you can. We need to talk about you being all the way here in the forbidden forest. No one has the right to train here on his own.'

'Yes madame Hooch….'

We flew back to the castle. It was just now that I realized Stephany was flying with no problems at all next to us.

'Stephany….how come you can fly so good?'

'Madame Hooch needed all those capable of flying to go look for you. We only saw you flying into the forbidden forest, which of course is inmense. And guess what….I was a natural! Me! Can you believe that? I was totally scared of flying at first, but I could fly as if I had done it all my life!'

'And I offered her a place in the junior quidditch team of Ravenclaw. She will be the new seeker. If she accepts, of course', said Madame Hooch.

'Wow! Seeker! That's great, Stephany!'

Stephany turned red. So I turned out to be rookie and she turned out to be a natural. What a surprise….But she deserved it, and I would cheer for her every single match she might play in the future.

A half an hour later, I lied in one of the beds in the hospital wing. I had suffered light injuries to my head, but that wasn't anything a good day and night of rest couldn't cure. Stephany was sitting beside my bed, keeping me company. She chatted without interruption about herself being such a good broom pilot, and me being incredibly lucky for having only such little injuries after such a big collision. Then, suddenly, she smiled with a slight bit of sarcasm in her face.

'So….what's that with you and that Bianca girl?'

'Bianca?'

'Yeah. She like totally flipped when she saw you collapsing!'

'Really?'

'Yeah! What happened between the two of you?'

'Well…some guy named Roy was bullying her, and I stopped him. I think that she is still gratefull for that.'

Suddenly, Lily flew from the desk she was sitting on. 'He likes her, too! Only he is to shy to admit it!'

'NO! I mean…That's not…'

I couldn't finish the sentence. Madame Hooch came walking towards my bed, and Elysander was with her. 

'I am finished with talking to mister Elvenblood, but he wanted to see you. How are you doing, mister Tokisado?'

'Fine….fine, madame Hooch. Thanks.'

'Well, I am off, then.'

Madame Hooch left.

'Well then…it seems you are lucky, Yorokei.'

'Yes, I am….'

But then, something totally unexpected happened. Lily started shining heavily, sometimes her light went out, as if she was a dying flame. She yelled with her high pitched voice, going berserk.

'Elysander….ELYSANDER!!! Must remember! The fate of this world….I know…Elysander!'

I took Lily in the palm of my hand and stroked her.

'LILY PLEASE! What's the matter?'

Lily hyperventilated, still going mad.

'Need to tell Yorokei……the……Elysander….know him….but…it hurts…'

Lily lost her glow, and fell asleep in my hand. She was exhausted. Worried sick, I only looked at her. Elysander also looked surprised.

'That is a fairy! And not an ordinary one!'

'It is a Finnish fairy…but that is not important right now! I have got to get her to Hagrid!'

I wanted to step out of bed, and go to Hagrid, but Elysander stopped me.

'Wait Yorokei….you are too weak!'

'Lily is, too!'

'Give Lily to me.'

I looked Elysander straight into the eyes. He looked worried and dead serious at the same time. 

'But…she fainted because she saw you.'

'I am sure I can revive her. Please. Give her to me. I won't even have to leave. She will remain within your eyesight.'

Slowly, I handed little Lily over to Elysander. He put her in his right hand and closed his eyes. Then, he started stroking her with his left hand. Slowly, Lily began to awake. Tiny drops of sweat dripped from Elysander's forehead. Whatever he was doing, it cost him a lot of concentration and energy.

'What…happened?'

Lily looked around, and Elysander gave her back to me, before collapsing into a chair next to my bed. 

'What did you do, Elysander?', I asked.

'It is a gift….we elves are in close contact with the nature…we can heal tiny creatures that are injured, but….it drains a lot from our energy….I have to rest a while, I think…'

Lily began glowing again, and flew to Elysander, landing on his lap.

'Prince Elysander! Are you allright?'

Surprised, we all looked towards Elysander. Could he be a prince?

'Are you a prince, Elysander?'

Elysander sighed.

'Yes. I come from the royal race of elves, the Elvenblood race. My father is, indeed, king of elves. So that makes me the prince.'

He looked at Lily, who was bowing before him.

'But I don't know you…little one…'

'My name is Lily! I was serving your father! He sent me to warn Yorokei! I remember now! The king of elves, Yorokei! It was he who sent me!'

'That would make sense…',Elysander said. 'My father often uses fairy's to run errands for him. This kind of fairy's are only found in our world nowadays…we elves can take proper care of them. And my father had a lot of them, too.'

I looked at Lily, and took her in my hand, looking at her.

'Now, we finally know where you come from.'

'Yes….it is such a relief that I remember!'

'Well, now you can tell me what you came to warn me for!'

'Yes, I would like to know that, too….', Elysander said.

'Well I…….'

Little tears came in Lily's eyes, she started crying.

'I still don't know!……I know who sent me now, but I still don't know….'

'Easy Lily, easy…'

'You must hate me for not remembering anything!'

Lily cried endlessly, but I stroked her and held her close to my face.

'Don't worry 'bout that, Lily. I still like you!'

At the end of the day, I was allowed to go and grab a bite in the Great Hall. Elysander and Stephany followed, and of course little Lily, who finally had remembered something that might be usefull.

'I will try and reach my father for you, Yorokei. He must hear what happened. Perhaps that we will find out what Lily had to tell you about.'

'If you would like to do that, please…'

'It will take a long time, Yorokei. Reaching my father isn't an easy thing to do, but I will try my hardest. In the mean time, I want you to be extra carefull. My father wasn't trying to contact you for nothing.'

'Thanks…I will keep an eye out.'

'If anything strange happens, go to professor Dumbledore. He is a wise man. He will certainly be able to help you.'

'Yes, thank you Elysander.'

'I will go to my own table now. Good luck, Yorokei…'

Elysander walked to his table and Stephany and I took our spots on the Ravenclaw table.

'What a day.'

'You can say that again, Steph.'

'What do you think Lily has to tell you?'

'I haven't got a single clue, Stephany…..not a single clue.'

'In time…you will know…'

'WHAT? What was that voice?'

'What voice, Yorokei?'

'Nothing…nothing at all…

The voice was the same as in my dream….how could this be….was someone trying to reach me? Did someone want to tell me more? Perhaps I should find out these things….


	7. Chapter 6: Let the Games Begin!

- Chapter 6 –

- Let the games begin! –

Sweet October was soon entering the scene with its usual unpredictable rain, gusting from the dark skies. Slowly, I began to get used to things. The breakfast for example, always seemed to be different from the one the day before. And professor Snape continued to dislike me-a lot-. In my second potions class, he forced me to drink my own sleeping potion, which wasn't the right colour and made my hands swell up to the size of two shovels. Reason enough for Snape to take five points from Ravenclaw again. Stephany was eating a salad sandwich, when Peter came along.

'Hi Stephany. Hey Yorokei. Do you mind if I borrow Stephany for a while?'

'Of course not. What's it for?'

'The junior quidditch team. Her first game is next week. Ravenclaw against Hufflepuff. We have to discuss her training. Want to come along? That is, if Stephany doesn't object against it.'

'I don't.'

'Okay. If you two just walk along with me?'

We picked up our stuff and walked along with Peter. While walking, we talked about how our study went. I told Peter about my confrontations with professor Snape, and he had to laugh about it.

'That is so usual, Yorokei….Snape hates all students that aren't from his own house! He constantly gives Slytherin points whenever he sees an opportunity to do so, and vice versa he takes house points from any house that isn't his.'

'That's unfair! How can he be a headmaster of any house if he is that way?'

'I don't know Yorokei…. but professor Dumbledore seems to have his reasons to keep Snape around…. and I doubt he is wrong. Dumbledore is a brilliant headmaster, I tell you.'

Peter stopped in the middle of a corridor. I saw nothing that looked like an entrance, and neither did Stephany, looking at her face. Peter just stood there, and pointed up.

'Where you least expect an entrance, huh?'

'The chandelier?'

Peter gazed up to the beautiful bronze chandelier, and shouted: 'water polo!'

'Water polo?'

'Water polo. Favourite sport of Dumbledore.'

'How do YOU know?'

'We don't. We guess…..sure would fit him right, don't you think? Oh, watch it now! It's coming down!'

The chandelier fell down from the ceiling, and nearly crushed us. But it revealed the entrance: a hole in the ceiling. Also, it we saw a rope ladder: the chandelier must have hung on that ladder, but now we could climb straight up to the hole in the ceiling. Peter went first, and we followed him. When we were up on top of the ladder, we could came into a small, round room. A lot of pictures from wizards were hanging there, of which all wore sports robes of different sorts. Beneath them hung articles, probably about the achievements they made in their respective fields of sports.

Peter helped Stephany up, who looked around. She pointed at the doors, which I didn't notice before. There were five doors in the tiny room.

'Peter, what are those doors for?'

'Behind those doors are our different sports sections. We have quidditch, athletics, wizard duels, targeting games and wizard chess and checkers.'

'Wizards chess?', I happily replied.

'Of course', Peter said. 'Wizards chess is one of the fields we Ravenclaw students are most famous for. We have one of the most famous junior wizards chess players in our midst, Dennis Mason. He has a national known status as a player.

'THE Dennis Mason? The one that won the junior wizards chess cup three times in a row?'

'Yes. That's him. Boy, you do know wizards chess, Yorokei.'

'Do I? It's my favourite sport! I know all about it.'

'In that case….Dennis will be giving exhibition matches all this month. I can put you on…next Thursday. Is that all right?'

'What? I will be playing against THE Dennis Mason?'

'Yes, if you want. Next Thursday, right after dinner in the Great Hall. You know where to find the entrance.'

'Okay! Thanks, Peter!'

Just a week later I found myself in the quidditch stadium. Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff! It would be Stephany's first match! This was the junior division of the quidditch competition, which only included students from up to the fourth class, which weren't able to compete in the prime competition. Despite this fact, the competition was very popular amongst students of all classes, as I could see judging by the amount of people that had gathered there. Masses of blue and yellow flags, the colours of the houses, were waved around in the stadium, and the crowd was cheering, even though nothing happened on the pitch yet. Suddenly, the commentator of the match began to speak.

'Welcome to you all! Welcome to the very first junior division quidditch match of the season: Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff! Both teams have gathered brand new players amongst their ranks, so lets give the teams a round of applause! There they are!'

The crowd went wild, and both teams came walking up to the field, towards the quidditch pitch. Some of them were looking around with a nervous look in their eyes, as if they were desperately trying to avoid eye contact with any of the people in the stadium, which of course was quite impossible. The players of the opposing teams shook hands with each others, and Madame Hooch walked up to the pitch.

'Madame Hooch enters the stadium….she releases the quaffle….AND THE GAME BEGINS!'

The players took of from the pitch and the Chasers immediately went after the quaffle. I tried to find Stephany amongst the racing players, but I couldn't find her. What a fast game this was!

'Hufflepuff chaser Jenny Hay takes the quaffle! Jenny has a reputation to keep, so she must fly –oooh!- barely avoided a bludger from Jackson, there! Plays the quaffle to Forrester, but….Intercepted by Ella Knight! Quick pass towards McPherson, can Davenport stop this one? No! And Ravenclaw scores!'

First point scored for Ravenclaw, that should provide the team with a mental boost, I figured. Meanwhile, Stephany was flying stationary high above the stadium, looking around, probably to find the golden snitch. She looked quite nervous, but then again, so did the opposing seeker: a boy with pitch-black hair that partially covered the front of his face. Perhaps this was his first real match, too.

'Ouch! Bludger fight, everyone! Beaters Melissa Johnson from Ravenclaw and Giovanni Ulrich from Hufflepuff are rapidly beating a bludger to each other, trying to gain control over it! Melissa has a hard time because of the highly experienced Giovanni, and OOOH what a surprise! Giovanni loses and gets hit full in the face! Oh god! He falls down! But wait what? Yes! I see! Li Hikari was reckless leaving his goal hoops undefended, and Davies scores! Hikari is going to get it from his coach tonight! That makes the score 20 to 40 for Hufflepuff! But this game is far from over!'

Stephany was still gazing across the field. No sight of the snitch. One of the Ravenclaw chasers got hit badly by a bludger. If this would continue, Ravenclaw might lose! But then, all the sudden…

'Oh! There goes Urban, the Hufflepuff seeker! He races down around the goalposts……Belladonna quickly races after him….has he seen the snitch? I can't see, but it's quite a race between the two seekers! Both of them are new to their teams, so now we can see which team chose best, this year…..Belladonna seems to have a speed advantage, but perhaps Urban can…wait what's he doing? He's making a loop! Belladonna is surprised, and flies into….ouch! No! Belladonna crashes into the barriers of the field! Oh god! Is she alright?'

'STEPHANY!'

I stepped up from my seat, but Lily flew in my way before I could leave.

'No, Yorokei! Look!'

Madame Hooch hurried to Stephany, and seemed to cast a spell upon her. A magical light glowed around her body, and she stepped up again.

'Ferula spell, Yorokei. Heals wounds.'

'Okay…..thanks Lily.'

Stephany stepped back up her broom, and flew back into the game. She seemed alright. But something changed about her. No longer did she look uncertain of her abilities. Even from this great distance, I could see the fire burning in her eyes. She was determined to capture the snitch. 

'And Belladonna flies back into the game after a brilliant deceiving move from Urban! And what a move that was! Back to the score! 40 for Ravenclaw versus 60 for Hufflepuff now! The game goes on! And Bernard Banshee nearly gets hit by a bludger himse- Oh my god look at Belladonna!'

Stephany had spurted ahead and was now flying no more then 4 feet from the ground at tremendous speed. The snitch was flying in front of her, almost within reach! But From the other side of the field, the Hufflepuff seeker also came flying in. If this continued to go on this way, he would certainly catch the snitch since it was flying straight to him. The snitch began flying lower, now flying only one foot above the ground. 

'The two seekers are head to head now! Steven Urban takes the risk and flies closer to the ground, Belladonna really should fly lower, too, if she is to catch the snitch!'

But then, Stephany took a big spurt with her broom! Now, she was flying right above the snitch. She reached out for it with her arm, but couldn't catch it. There was no more time for Stephany to start flying lower, and Urban was sure to catch the snitch. And then!

'Well, people, LOOK AT THAT!'

Stephany held on to her broom with both legs and one arm, and dropped down her broom, now hanging from it as it flew on. What an exiting game! She reached out for the snitch, touched it, and….

'BELLADONA CATCHES THE SNITCH! What a move! How brilliant…It's 190 to 60 for Ravenclaw! Ravenclaw wins! Oooh, Belladonna crashes into the ground…again! Hope she is okay!'

The Ravenclaw spectators went wild and cheered for their team, and especially Stephany. 'Belladonna!', they cheered, but Stephany lied down on the ground, probably exhausted. The team members flew towards her, probably to congratulate her. I was sorry for not being in the team….I wanted to congratulate her, too…

Stephany ended up in the hospital wing, just for a check-up, because Madame Hooch thought that crash-landing twice during a match wasn't something to be taken lightly. But, Stephany wasn't badly wounded, only bruised a bit. Madame Pomfrey had taken care of the worst injuries, and now she was happy and babbling around as usual.

'It was so exiting! I can't believe I did it…..I just like….saw the snitch, and it was THIS close, but that other guy would catch it if I wouldn't..'

'It WAS a very dangerous thing to do, Steph….'

I blushed a bit.

'You scared the heck out of me, you know…'

'Well….I scared the heck out of myself, too.'

'You are my best friend, Stephany. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you.'

Lily sighed. 'What about me?'

'Well, you are my best friend, too.'

Stephany giggled. 'Jealous, Lily?'

'Hmph. Just a bit.'

'A big bit or a tiny bit?'

'A miniscule bit.'

'Yeah yeah…'

Suddenly, there was some racket in the back of the hospital wing. The doors flew open, and professor Snape came walking in, carrying a girl that was unconscious in his arms. 

'Poppy? Where are you?'

The doors flew open again. It was Roy Sulphuryn walking behind Snape, following him in his tracks. Madame Pomfrey came walking towards him, and was shocked to see the girl. I overheard them talking about the girls condition, but I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, only little words like 'accident' and 'didn't mean to'. Roy just stood there, looking, showing no expression on his face. 

'Lily…could you go check that out? I have the strange feeling…'

'Okay, Yorokei.'

Lily flew towards the bed, and hurried back.

'Yorokei! You must see this….!'

I walked towards the bed, getting quite a shock. It was Bianca! But her face had swellings on it, and she was unconscious.

'Bianca! What has happened?'

Madame Pomfrey pushed me away from the bed. 'Out of my way! I need to help the patient! We have to get her back to her senses again, first. Professor Snape?'

Professor Snape took his wand, a held his arm stretched above Bianca's chest.

'Reviveae Incantus!'

Red drops formed on professor Snape's wand, and three drops fell down on Bianca. She slowly started opening her eyes.

'Ow….it hurts…', she said, with tears in her eyes. 'Please make it stop…'

I wanted to stroke her, soothe her, but Madame Pomfrey kept us at a distance. She picked up a bottle from the desk next to the bed, and poured some of the potion into Bianca's mouth. 

'This will make the pain go away a bit, dear….'

Bianca swallowed the potion and closed her eyes again. Madame Pomfrey looked towards professor Snape.

'She will be kept here for the next two days….it will certainly take some time before all the swellings have gone away…and then, still some time before her face is fully rid of them.'

'Good. Then I will be leaving to my office again.'

'Professor Snape!'

Professor Snape looked at me as if I was a piece of dirt under his shoe. I looked him straight in the eyes, because I knew what the consequences of avoiding his eyesight could be.

'Yes….mister Tokisado?'

'Can I ask…what happened?'

Snape looked even angrier, but stayed calm and answered the question. 'Miss Birdwing refused to help mister Sulphuryn here with his swelling potion, and when he tried to show it to her, he tripped and the potion fell into her face.'

'Are you sure, professor Snape? I mean, they had a fight recently, and…'

'Do not tempt me to deduct point from your house, mister Tokisado…I shall leave, now.'

Snape walked out of the hospital wing, and Roy followed. I looked at Bianca. Despite the swellings on her face, she still was beautiful.

'Bianca?'

'Yorokei? Is that you?'

'Yes…I was here with….how are you feeling?'

Tears dropped down Bianca's cheeks. It was terrible to see such a sweet girl being so sad.

'I feel terrible, Yorokei…..look at me….'

'Madame Pomfrey said you would be fine.'

'That's not the only thing…'

Bianca sighed.

'I…there are things…I can't tell about…. it makes me sad. That stuff with Roy, and…'

'It wasn't an accident, was it?'

'No…Roy was….warning me again not to tell…'

'THE SCUM!'

'Yorokei…'

'Look what he did to you! This has to end!'

'This is something between me and Roy…'

I took Bianca's hand, and stroke it. She smiled. Suddenly I realised what I was doing, and let go of her hand. I turned red and turned my head away. But Bianca reached out to my hand, and tangled her fingers around mine.

'I like it if you…keep me company…'

We both turned red, both not really knowing what to say.     

A few hours later – I don't know how – I found myself back in the Ravenclaw common room, together with Stephany. We were both studying for Charms, professor Flitwick had given us a lot of homework. 

'You like each other, don't you?'

'Who?'

'You and Bianca…'

'It is hard to deny I guess, after this afternoon.'

'Any idea how to get to her, yet?'

'Get to her?'

'Ask her out! Do something about it! Get the fire burning!'

'Well….I will try…but I don't know….taking her to the Yule ball would be great.'

'You can't. You know that. Only fourth-years students and up are allowed at the Yule ball.'

I sighed and stood up from my chair. I was just about to go to my room and get something to read, when I remembered I had forgotten something. 

'Lily!'

'What?'

'I have forgotten something!'

Lily sighed. 'Again?'

'Please Lily. I know you know what it is! You have a really good memory.'

'I can't even remember what things of importance I am supposed to tell you! How could you say such a thing?'

'Well ehm…you DO remember all things connected to school!'

'Let me think…..aren't you supposed to play chess tonight?'

'Wizards Chess! Against Dennis Mason! I gotta move!'

Stephany grabbed her books. 'Wait, Yorokei! I'm coming with you!'

Next thing, I was standing in the little room, with all doors. Peter was already waiting for me. He grinned as I came in.

'In the nick of time. Are you ready?'

'As ready as I will ever be….'

'Then, enter through the white door.'

It was now I realised there were actually two doors. A white door and a black door. Both had a chess symbol of the chess king on them. 

'Why the white door?'

'You are the challenger today. Challengers always play with white.'

'And Dennis…'

'Plays with black.'

'Okay.'

'Go on in, Yorokei. Uhm…'

I opened the door. What was hidden behind it, was incredible. There was a very big balcony, and I walked up to it. Looking down, there was an enormous chess field down below, with enormous chess pieces on it. Also, a huge clock hung above the centre of the chessboard.

'16 by 16 yards.'

Peter smiled.

'It was made two centuries ago, by magic craftsmen who thought it would be much more exiting to play chess in an area this big. It's useful for the crowd, too. Look up there!'

Up to the balcony, there was another balcony with students sitting on comfortable leather chairs. Also, tiny professor Flitwick was sitting in a chair at least four times his size. He looked down with a little spark in his eyes out of exiting. And on the other side of the chess field, on the opposite balcony, a boy with blond hair growing down his neck was looking me straight into his eyes. His arms were folded behind his back, as if he was waiting for me. And he was. I recognized him immediately. It was Dennis Mason. The junior wizards chess champion. He smiled a bit, and just nodded, not saying a word. Professor Flitwick rose up from his chair, and squeaked with his high-pitched voice.

'It is time for the next match! First years student against Yorokei Tokisado against Dennis Mason, junior chess champ! We have seen quite amazing things of Dennis Mason this week already! But perhaps, Yorokei will prove that even a champion has an equal! Are the players ready?'

Dennis nodded his head, and I did the same.

'Then, you can begin!'

I looked towards my chess pieces. Of course, the first thing that sprang to mind was to put my pawn forward from E2 to E4, but would Dennis Mason fall for that? It was quite predictable, perhaps putting the pawn on G2 forward to G4 would be wiser. I was just about to make the make the move, but then…

'BOOM!'

The pawn I just wanted to put forward, had blown up! But why?

'Wait a second, what was that all a-'

But Dennis already announced his move.

'Pawn! E 7 to E5!'

Dennis' pawn moved forward, but then, Peter came walking up to me.

'Wait! Time-out!'

Dennis Mason looked irritated.

'You are throwing off my natural rhythm!'

'Sorry. I forgot to tell him about the time penalty!'

Dennis maked unpatient noise. 'Hmph. Hurry up, then.'

Peter pointed towards the big clock, and began to tell.

'Well, it's like this. To make things a little more exiting for the public, we have introduced the time penalty here at our tournament. That means that you have a limited amount of time to move your chess pieces.'

'How much time?'

'Ten seconds.'

'What?! How can I think in ten seconds?!'

'That makes it such a hard and exiting game to play.'

'And if I don't play within those ten seconds?'

'The piece you last thought of, will…..'

'Blow up?'

'Yes.'

I looked back at the chessboard. This would make things more exiting indeed, but it would also make the game a lot harder to play. Could I compete in such a match?

'Also, Yorokei…If you are to be checked in your turn and can't save yourself within the time, you are declared check-mate, and you lose the match.'

'Anything else you forgot?'

'No…I don't think so…'

'You get 10 seconds extra play time per turn as soon as you have lost the half of your chess pieces.'

Dennis grinned from the other side of the board.

'And now I would like to continue this game. Are you ready, Yorokei?'

I looked down to the chessboard to my pieces. But I never backed out of a chess game before, and I decided this wouldn't be the first time to do so, either. 

'Yes, Dennis. Knight G1 to F3!'

'In that case….pawn E5 to E4!'

'Bishop…no……..castle…..make it the….pawn'

'BOOM!'

My pawn on B2 exploded, but Dennis didn't even notice, really. But it did have consequences.

'Pawn, E4, get that knight on F3!'

My knight was stabbed by the pawn with its sword, and exploded. Already three pieces lost….how would this go on?

It was a hard game. Dennis proved worthy of his reputation. My pieces were blown to bits one by one, but I managed to conquer some of his chess pieces as well. His bishop turned out to be a very violent one, but my castle's proved to be it's equal and cornered it, sweeping it off the board. But after 20 minutes, most pieces had already been cleared of the board. The time penalty proved to speed up the match a lot. Dennis and I both seemed to break quite some sweat, until the chessboard only had a few chess pieces left. I had to settle for my king and two castles, while Dennis still had his king, a castle and the most frightening piece of them all: his queen. Dennis certainly had the advantage in this match now. And it was his turn, too.

'Queen……..no, no, king to F7!'

'Castle to G5!'

'Damn….Queen to F5!'

'Wrong move Dennis…'

'What?'

'King to F5!'

My king smashed Dennis' queen from the board. That was a wrong move of him. Probably he had made it because of the pressure of the game. His head was sweaty, and he looked really nervous now.

'NO! NO NO!'

'Sorry, Dennis…..He who makes the move, can't withdraw any more.'

'I…I…'

Dennis looked on the board, and closed his eyes, leaning on the wall of his balcony.

'I give up.'

I looked surprised, and so did the public. But the only thing Dennis did, was letting out a little smile, and looking towards me.

'Congratulations, Yorokei….you have won. I have not played at my fullest….If I would have known of your qualities as a chess player, I would have tried better.'

'But you gave up!'

'I can't win with those pieces, I can tell you know. It might have taken another half an hour, but eventually, you would have won.'

Professor Flitwick rose up from his chair, and squeaked:

'And thus, by the fact of Dennis withdrawing from the match, I declare Yorokei the winner!'

The crowd applauded, and the chess pieces also returned to the board, and began to cheer for me loudly. This was cool! I felt like I could take on the world, now.  Peter walked up to me.

'Good job, Yorokei.'

'Thanks, Peter.'

'You are a natural. Make good use of it.'

A natural chess player….and Stephany was a natural quidditch player. How lucky we were! Perhaps someday, we would become sport idols…although that day could still take ages.


	8. Chapter 7: The Dramatic Duel

- Chapter 7 –

- The Dramatic Duel –

'I like it….if you keep me company…'

Bianca looked me close into the eyes. Her face was beautiful, her hair was perfect…but Bianca was perfect. Slowly, I moved towards her, and stroked her hair. She smiled with her typical girlish smile, and I came ever closer to her. I wanted to kiss her, and tell her how much I really liked her. She also moved closer. I was going to kiss her….the moment my lips would touch hers…I fell. Fell down, deep into a hole, and landed hard on the ground. A voice called me.

'Get up, Yorokei.'

The voice echoed all over the place. It was a male voice. Where was I? I looked around. It looked like a clearing in the woods, the moonlight magically lighting the place.

'Get up. It is time.'

I got up my feet, and looked around. No-one to see.

'We have to make a move on. You have taken way too much time already.'

I continued looking around. 'Where are you? Please tell me…what should I do?'

'Learn about your past. You will know. And do not hesitate to fight those who try and stop you in your goal.'

'What is my goal?'

'Everything at its time.'

Suddenly, I smelled something. The smell of smoke. I looked back of me. The entire forest was totally on fire! When I looked back in front of me, the rest of the forest had caught fire as well! I was trapped! No way to get out! But then, suddenly, Lily hovered in front of me.

'I would look after you…protect you…I warned you….but you wouldn't listen.'

Lily became bigger, and changed into….

'Roy?'

Roy grinned. 'Too late Yorokei…way too late…now I hold the fate of the world! And no-one can stop me!'

I was burned in the flames, and then…

I woke up. What a dream! I was sweating heavily and breathing like I had run for twenty miles! I tried to remember the dream….Bianca…Lily…Roy….and that voice again…I had heard it before, back when I had fainted after my crash with my broomstick. That voice kept telling me about me and my goal…as if there was something I had to do, but I had no clue what that could be. After ten minutes of thinking about the dream, I decided that wasn't going to help, and I got out of my bed, looking out of the window.

The weather had taken turn for the worse in November. The sound of thunder striking from the clouds was no longer an unusual thing to hear, and you stood no chance to face the weather outside unless you were the lucky owner of a really good umbrella. Thus, going outside was no longer very appealing to us, and we searched for our luck indoors. Stephany had decided to join the school choir, as she had always said that singing was her life, and she really wanted to keep practicing. But she never allowed me to come along to one of her rehearsals, probably to afraid about what I might say about them.

As for me, I took up drawing again. I started a comic an animagus that had changed into a newt, but could no longer change back to his human form. Most students found it hilarious, and kept me begging for more. And thus, I delivered. But at those moments, that no one else would be watching, I drew about a far more interesting subject: Bianca. Somehow, she had driven me mad. Just looking at her made me feel very strange, and thus, I had the feeling that I should make something special for her. I drew a lot of pictures of her, but none of them ever came close to how I actually saw her. Luckily, she recovered more quickly then madame Pomfrey had expected, and she could leave the hospital wing after three weeks. So, I went to the hospital wing to pick her up.

Bianca's face was still partially covered with light swellings, and here face still was red and irritated because of that. She smiled when she saw me.

'Hey..'

'Hi Bianca.'

'Ehm....Yorokei...thank you for coming to visit me every day.'

'Hey. I just...want to make sure you are okay.'

Bianca picked up her clothes from the stool next to her bedside. She walked towards the big window of the hospital wing, and looked outside, up to the sky. She said nothing.

'Come. Let's go, Bianca.'

Bianca didn't reply. She only looked out of the window, saying nothing at all. I walked towards her, and laid my hand on her shoulder.

'Something wrong?'

'Oh....Yorokei...'

She turned towards me. She was crying. It was as if she was always crying. Something was seriously bothering her. But still, I was convinced, that a very happy girl was hidden behind those tears.

'Yorokei..I..I really like you...as a friend, but...'

'What's wrong Bianca?'

'There are things you don't know. And things I can't ever tell you about. I should never have started liking you!'

'Liking me?'

'I like you, but it's too much...Yorokei....we can't see each other any more!'

'What?'

'I am sorry!' 

Bianca ran out of the hospital wing, still crying, and I.....I was crying.....even though no-one could see my tears.

'SHE DITCHED YOU?'

'Not ditched me....we didn't even have anything going on.'

'Heck you did! Everyone could see it!'

Stephany was enfuriated by the fact that Bianca had left me like that, and I also was feeling really down because of it. Sure, there was nothing serious going on between the two of us yet, but that might have happened sooner or later, and we certainly had a close bond somehow, that neither of us could explain. 

'Damn it!'

I threw my wand on the desk, and started walking in circles. What could have made Bianca do what she did? What could have made her so sad?

'Let it go, Yorokei', Lily said. 'You're only making this harder on yourself.'

'But....I like the girl, Lily. What should I do? Just let her go and let it be? Heck, I don't even know what made me like her!'

Peter came walking into the common room, and saw me walking around nervously.

'Something wrong, Yorkei?'

'No. Everything is fine.'

Stephany sighed. 'It's Bianca. She doesn't want any contact with him any more.'

'Yorokei likes a girl?'

'Yes....he met her about two months ago, but he can't get her out of his mind. As soon as he sees her, he goes all red and stuff.'

'Steph!'

Peter continued. 'Isn't that that Hufflepuff girl....the one who ended up in the hospital wing?'

'Yes. Thanks to that stinking......'

I immideately picked up my wand and ran out of the common room. Peter and Stephany looked at me, with amazement in their eyes.

How could I not have seen it! How stupid had I been? Bianca hadn't broken up with me because of the fact that she didn't like me, no! She broke up with me because she was scared of Roy, and what he might do to her, and me in the future. However, that little Slytherin rat didn't scare me at all! It was time to end his reign of terror over Bianca, and put a stop to this once and for all! But where to go look for Roy? I didn't know! 

'Yorokei! What are you doing?'

It was Lily, who had flown in my tracks at high speed. She was already exhausted, by the look of her face.

'I am going to stop Roy, that's what I am going to do! Bianca will no longer be threatened by that irritating piece of dirt!'

'Yorokei, THINK! You don't even know where the Slytherin common room is!'

'No…but I will find out!'

'You won't! No one will tell you where the common room is!'

'Listen, Lily….I only need to follow one of those apes to the common room, and I will find out!'

'As if no-one will notice!'

'What do YOU suggest?'

Lily stopped following me and hovered stationary in the air.

'If you stop that ridiculous running, I will tell you.'

I stopped, knowing that somewhere….Lily had a point. 

'Sorry Lily….well….what is your idea?'

'Well….you could just wait until class.'

'Class?'

'Defence against the dark arts….you have that with the Slytherins, ain't that right?'

'Yes….'

'After that, you can fight it out with Roy.'

'Okay then…you are right, Lily….I will wait till then.'

After my chat with Lily, I explained my plan to Stephany, who agreed with Lily that it was a much better plan then to follow a Slytherin into his common room. Roy had better tell me what was going on, and why he had done what he did to Bianca, or otherwise, I would make sure he would never be able to set sight on her again. 

That afternoon, I went to class early. I didn't want to miss sight of Roy for a second, so I wanted to be around when he would enter the class, as well. However, he wasn't the very first to enter the classroom. It was professor Lupin, who was quite surprised to see me in the further empty classroom.

'Early today, Yorokei? Class won't start until…well……not about fifteen minutes. Care for some tea?'

'Well…uhm, okay…'

Professor Lupin smiled, and filled two teacups with water. He placed them on the table and picked up his wand.

'What flavour is your fancy?'

'Euhm….vanilla?'

Professor Lupin touched my cup with the tip of his wand.

'Vannileus Boillae!'

The cup boiled and the water turned hot, untill it had exactly the colour of a normal cup of tea. If only mom had known about this spell!

'I can teach it to you, if you want', professor Lupin smiled.

'Perhaps later, thanks.'

'Yes…it DOES take a lot of time to learn all the 300 flavours the spell can produce.'

Professor Lupin looked me into the eyes. It was strange, but he always made me feel comfortable, as if you could trust him with anything bothering you. But the funny thing is, I didn't even have to tell him about what bothered me. He seemed to know, as if he could see straight through me.

'Something bothers you…'

'What?'

'I can see it….something is terribly bothering you, Yorokei…..and I think it might have to do with the fact you were in the classroom so early….'

'How do you know this?'

'A good teacher knows his students, I guess.'

I took a nip of my vanilla tea. It was delicious. It made me feel all warm and comfy inside. As if a stream of good feelings went straight down my spine. I felt totally comfortable, and decided to tell professor Lupin what was bothering me.

'Professor….have you ever really liked a girl?'

Professor Lupin looked surprised, as if he hadn't expected a girl to be involved. 'Of course I have really liked some girls, Yorokei…..there was this beautiful young girl one year lower in Gryffindor….my house also was Gryffindor by the way….but that is another story. I want to hear your story, Yorokei.'

'Well, professor, I like a girl, too…..'

'More then just a friend, I suppose?'

'Well….perhaps….I just get a really strange, unexplainable feeling when she is around.'

Professor Lupin nodded his head. 'Alright. But I do not see the problem. Are you afraid to tell her about your feelings? Is that it?'

'No….some time ago, she was threatened by a  boy from Slytherin, Roy Sulferwood…I don't know about what the fight was, neither of them would tell. The first time, I was there to stop anything bad from happening, but the second time, I wasn't around, and Bianca ended up in the hospital wing with swellings all over her face.'

Professor Lupin took a sip from his tea and seemed to think it over.

'Did Roy have to do with this accident?'

I nodded my head.

'How can you be sure?'

'He was there when she was brought into the hospital. He didn't say anything, and neither did Professor Snape…'

'Professor Snape was there?'

'Yes. He claims it was an accident.' 

Lily flew up to the table, in front of Professor Lupin.

'It wasn't! I am sure he hurt Bianca on purpose! And that's why Yorokei is going to kick his slimy ass during a wizards du-'

Quickly, I grabbed Lily off the table and held my hand in front of her mouth.

'Hmmmph!'

'A fairy?'

'No….yes….and this fairy a bit of a blabbermouth..'

Quickly, I rose from my chair. Professor Lupin looked at me in surprise.

'Where are you going, Yorokei?'

Lily was heavily protesting inside my hands, trying to get free. She would tell way too much! Professor Lupin would never allow students to fight out their conflicts by a wizard's duel!

'Forgot my books. Be right back!'

Quickly, I ran out of the class, ran around three or four corners, and released Lily from my stranglehold. She breathed heavily, but she also glowed extremely bright.

'HOW COULD YOU?!',  she said.

'How could YOU?! Now professor Lupin knows about my plan, he will do anything he can to stop me from duelling Roy!'

'I just wanted to help!'

'Well, then you didn't do very good, did you?!'

Lily began to cry, and screamed, with her typical high pitched voice.

'Professor Lupin is a GOOD man! He would understand! He would help! Perhaps he would find a solution for you, so that you needn't battle Roy!'

'But I WANT to battle Roy! I want to make him absolutely clear that he has to stay away from Bianca from now on! And you aren't helping the matter at all! What's gonna happen now? He will probably get some jobs to do for Filch, but after that, he can go on pestering Bianca!'

Lily started to cry really much now. 'What if Roy hurts you?!'

'He couldn't before! You know that!'

'It's just that….I promised my master I would look after you…protect you..'

'And me protecting Bianca?! Isn't that important?!'

'Can't you see I said it for you?!…..I…I am going!'

Lily quickly flew away, and I didn't bother to follow her. I didn't see that I had done wrong at that moment, and even if I would have tried to follow her, I would never have been able to catch up with her. So, in quite a depressed mood, I went back to the class. My duel with Roy was going to be off. Bianca would be pestered by him and I couldn't do anything for her. And by that, I couldn't even get to know her better. All effort seemed a waste of time.

The class was terrible. I could only think of what would happen if Professor Lupin would tell Professor Dumbledore about my intents to duel with Roy. He would send me off Hogwarts straight away, back to home. And if not, Professor Snape would certainly find out and deduct so many points from Ravenclaw that they wouldn't win the house cup for the next upcoming 7 years. Stephany was silent in class. She looked at me, but continued being silent, probably because she didn't know what had happened and what was safe to say and what wasn't. During the lessons I was doubting of what to do. Either I duelled Roy, and would stop him in terrorizing Bianca, which might get me expelled, or I wouldn't duel Roy and risk the fact that Professor Lupin would tell everything to Professor Dumbledore, who would expel me anyway. So I quickly chose for the first option. After the class, I would challenge Roy to a duel. At least Bianca wouldn't be bothered by Roy anymore, and maybe Roy would be expelled as well, for duelling me, too.

After the class, Roy rose up from his desk and walked out of the classroom, seemingly bragging about things he did to his fellow Slytherin students. I picked up my bag and went after him, and Stephany walked with me. I almost walked out of the classroom, but then…

'Yorokei? I would like to talk to you for a moment.'

Professor Lupin stood behind his desk, looking at me. I couldn't read any kind of expression from his face. It made me feel strange. I walked up to Professor Lupin. Now I was caught. He was probably going to tell everything and try to get me expelled right away.

'Yes, Professor Lupin?'

'About this afternoon….'

'Yes…'

'That fairy of yours…she tried to tell me something, didn't she?'

'Yes, Professor….I am sorry you had to hear it.'

Professor looked at me, smiling. 'It is hard to get fairies to fully obey you. That's because they are intelligent creatures, with their own will. I have something for you.'

I was amazed! Was this NOT about the duel? Didn't Professor Lupin hear anything of it at all? Hadn't he guessed? 

Professor Lupin took a book from his drawer and gave it to me.

'Fairies and their oddities?'

The Professor smiled. 'It's a good guide to tell how to you can improve on your master-servant relationship with your fairy.'

I stuttered. 'T-thank you…'

'You are welcome. You can go now.'

I walked out of the door, and Professor Lupin said:

'Good luck.'

 Outside of the classroom, I quickly put the book in my bag. As I did so, I noticed something was sticking out. It was a piece of parchement, slightly bigger then the book. It was sticking out really obvious, as if I was meant to find it. I quickly pulled it out. It was a note from Professor Lupin!

_Yorokei,_

_I am sorry for you, but yes. I did know what your fairy wanted to say. You want to engage Roy in a duel. As a teacher, you must know I fully disagree. I cannot allow students to fight out their conflicts with each other. You never have gotten this note of me._

_There was however, a time, that I was a student. Back then, I did things like that as well….and fighting for a friend, that is a thing I honour with the deepest respect. Therefore, I have been thinking of this. And I have decided that friendship is more important then rules. No-one will hear from me about the duel, never._

_I will even recommend you a spot to let the duel take place. It is a place that has been enchanted by a group of frolicking students called 'the Marauders'. The map I have drawn marks the spot. When you fight there, you will be invisible to your surroundings. Also, voices are hushed a bit, so you won't be heard either. _

_I wish you good luck in the duel, but….if you tend to get hurt….get yourself out of there. You aren't going to help Bianca by getting hurt unnecessary. Good luck, Yorokei.._

_Professor Remus J. Lupin_

I couldn't believe it! Professor Lupin was going to help me! He wasn't going to tell anyone about the duel! But I had to catch up with Roy! I put the parchment in my pocket, and ran through the corridor. I saw some first years students from Slytherin, and figured Roy had to be somewhere among them. I kept looking around, trying to find him, but I didn't see him.

'Hey! You there!', said a shrieking voice. It was Roy, and he grinned broadly. He was accompied by a little girl with a very white face and two pony tails in her hair, who also grinned, probably because Roy did so, too.

'I hear that filthy girl Bianca has left you! So she did have some sense in her brains!'

I slowly walked towards Roy, looking him straight into his eyes. 

'Roy. Why are you doing this to Bianca?'

'Because she might do things to me. And I wouldn't like her to.'

'She said she wouldn't say anything about it, whatever it is.'

'Can't be certain enough, my friend. People can change their minds quickly.'

The girl sneered. 'And Roy doesn't allow people to stand in his way!'

I looked back at Roy.

'Want to make a deal, Roy?'

'A deal?'

'Yes. A wizards duel. Tonight.'

Roy seemed to ponder, but he smiled. 'Why not. To prove Slytherin is the superior house once and for all.'

'The wager is Bianca.'

'What?'

'If I win, you leave Bianca alone. For good.'

'You won't win, so consider it a deal if you want.'

'Then meet me at ten 'o clock outside the castle courtyard. From there, we will go to a suitable duelling spot.'

'Deal.'

We walked on in opposite directions, but Roy said:

'Oh, and prepare that stupid girl for your failure….'

'YOUR failure, Roy….Your failure…'

So I went back to the Ravenclaw common room, to think about everything that had happened today. I had a strange dream in the morning. Bianca had left me because of Roy. I had been quite hard on Lily, who only wanted to help. Professor Lupin had promised to tell nothing about my duel with Roy, which Roy had gladly accepted. Lily....I wanted to appologize to her. So I went up to the dormitory, where I hoped to find her. I slowly opened the old, cracking door.

'Lily?'

Lily was sitting on my desk, where she used to sleep on my clothes. She looked angry and said nothing. I decided that I should break the ice.

'Lily....I am sorry...'

Lily said nothing, and only looked angry.

'Ehm.....it was just that I was really afraid to get expelled....and I wanted to fight for Bianca...That is why I was so shocked by your response. I was afraid everything might go wrong...'

Lily sneered. 'It would be better for you if they just threw you off school!'

'Lily?'

'I wish I never had been assigned to help you! I do the best I can....and what do I get? This! Getting expelled, you say? You don't deserve anything else! Hmph!'

'Please Lily...don't be like this...'

'You were just a moment ago!'

'Please....I need your help...I am going to duel Roy tonight. I need you!'

'OH! NOW I SEE!'

'What do you mean?'

'You came here so you could use my magical powers! In order to win! Or did you want me to look out if anyone came close to finding the two of you, decreasing the risk of getting noticed? So YOU won't get expelled?'

'I'd never....'

'I am going!'

Lily flew out of the open window, into the cold weather outside. I ran behind her, looking outside the window, but I saw nothing.

'LILY!!!'

But Lily did not return.....

A few hours later, I found myself outside the castle courtyard. I had the map of Professor Lupin with me. I had torn off the message that Professor Lupin had added, for in case Roy might find out too much. I didn't want to put Professor Lupin in more risk then that he was taking now already. Despite my winter cloack, it was really cold outside. I hoped Lily would be so wise to return to the castle as soon as I went away, because I didn't want to know what this cold could do to her, being just a tiny little fairy. The doors of the castle behind me opened. Roy came out, but not only Roy.

'Well, Yorokei....I am here...and I thought, since you see this all as a big wager, we should take the thing the wager is about with us...'

Bianca walked out of the door. She was held tight by her right arm by Roy.

'Let her go, Roy.'

'As you wish.'

Roy let go of Bianca. Bianca walked towards me, and looked me straight into the eyes.

'Why are you doing this, Yorokei? You are going to get yourself into trouble! You might get expelled by doing this!'

'A wise man once told me that friendship is far more important then rules...'

'How touching', Roy sneered. 'Now where is this spot you want to duel?'

'Follow me', I said.

With the help of the map Professor Lupin had given me, we walked towards the forbidden forest. I looked at the map. There was supposed to be a triangle-shaped pile of rocks somewhere around. Roy found it, and went left, into the woods.

'What now, Einstein? Want to battle in the woods?'

'I am positive that it is here, Roy. Are you scared?'

'You wish.'

We walked on an on for almost ten minutes, and then we found the spot marked on the map. A big clearing in the middle of the forbidden forest. We walked into the clearing, and took a look around. But this clearing....I had seen it before...

'Something wrong?', Bianca asked.

'I have seen this place, in a dream......'

'Are you sure?'

'I am a scary lot sure of it.'

Roy had walked to a side of the clearing and had taken his wand from his robes. He was smiling at me.

'Back out if you want, Yorokei.'

I walked towards the other side of the clearing, and took my wand, too. It was shining unusually bright again, the same way it had shined when I first got it at Olivander's Wands. Both Bianca and Roy saw it. Roy looked a bit uncomfortable at my wand, and Bianca just gazed towards it with fully opened eyes.

Roy looked up. 'What's up with that wand of yours, Yorokei?'

'It's core is unknown....that is what causes it to shine.'

'The wand doesn't make the wizard.'

'Then prove it.'

Bianca walked forward.

'I guess I can't talk any of you out of this?'

'No', we both replied.

'Then on the count of three....one....two...THREE!'

Roy pointed his wand towards mine.

'FLIPENDO!'

The pushing chant! If it would hit my wand, I would be disarmed and would have lost! I quikly put my arm down, but the rest of my body was fully his with the pushing chant, and I flew back.

'That's too easy, Yorokei!'

'We shall see....RICTUSEMPRA!'

Roy quickly made a cirkle with his wand.

'SHIELD!'

My spell boucend off because of Roy's shield chant. How could he know that chant? We hadn't learned that chant yet! But Roy was ready to fire his next spell!

'LOCOMOTOR MORTIS!'

The leg-locker curse! I jumped up, and managed to avoid it. When I came down, I fired a spell of my own.

'FURNUNCULUS!'

Roy was shocked, and tried to counter the spell, but it was too late. He got hit full in the face, and blisters were now starting to spread all over his face. He looked really angry, which actually made him look funny because the way the blisters made him look.

'My face!'

'Give up Roy, then I might just do a counterspell.'

'NEVER!'

With an amazing speed, Roy managed to aim his wand at me, and shouted:

'PARALITIS!'

'Yorokei! Watch out!, Bianca screamed. But it was too late for me to get out of the way or do a counterspell. The blast had hit me, and I fell on the ground. I couldn't move my limbs, but was fully aware of what was going on.

'Stop!' Bianca said. 'Roy has won the duel! Lets stop right now!'

Roy grinned heavily and walked forward. Suddenly, he began sweating, and a sinister look came upon his face. Bianca looked scared, and Roy started laughing.

'You thought it was over? I, the so-called 'winner', declare that it is NOT over yet! I have some unfinished business to settle!'

Roy looked down at me, and flicked his wand.

'MOBILICORPUS.'

I hovered in the air, and Roy put my paralysed body up to a tree, so that I could look him straight into his eyes.

'You shouldn't have cast that last spell, Yorokei....I hate it when people like to mame me.....look at me! I will punish you for ignoring me!'

What was Roy going to do? Even though Roy normally  didn't scare me at all, I was frightened like a little child of him now. Something had totally taken him over, as if he was another person. This Roy was way more malicious then the Roy I knew, and then, he laughed.

'Ready, Yorokei?'

Bianca screamed. 'No Roy! Don't!'

'CRUCIO!'

I only remember the pain I felt then. A pain crawling through my body, from my toes to my fingers...For just a moment, I wished he would kill me....the pain would be over. My life flashed before me...I heard Roy laughing....Bianca screaming....and then, suddenly, all voices and pain went dim.

A voice.

'Get up Yorokei.'

The voice from my dreams again.

'Get up now Yorokei.'

Pain.....the pain was back.

'You can't let him do this to you. You will die.'

My head was cracking open.....something was forcing me to resist the voice....telling me not to listen to it.

'Release it.'

I could no longer think straight. Screaming. I should scream. Scream for help.

'Do not let him get AWAY with it!'

Get away. Yes, get away.

'This world depends on you! You have it in you! Then use it!'

Have it! use it! this world depends me! you! in me! don't let him! die will you! get up! get up! get up!.

'PUNISH HIM!'

I.......punish......him.....?

'Burn him!'

Burn....him....?

Suddenly, the pain was all gone.....It went away. The center of my body...started glowing....glowing more and more hot. I only remember looking at Roy, who was astounded by the fact I had arisen again.

'NO! IT IS NOT POSSIBLE!'

I raised my wand, but it wasn't really me myself who raised it. It was some strange power.....I didn't know if I liked it. Next thing, just maked a little movement with my wand and slammed Roy against a tree, knocking him unconscious. Then, all the sudden, I saw Bianca's frightened face, and somehow.....the pain returned. I fell down. A sorching pain was going trhrough my body, I was burning.....I was on fire! I didn't realise it before, but I was! I fell my skin burning up, I screamed in fear, and fainted again.

'Somebody.....please.....help me.....'

'Yorokei..'

It was not the voice from before. This was a calm, soothing voice. It sounded really familiar. 

'Bianca.....?'

'Just rest....let it go.'

'Let what go?'

She walked into the light, and took me by the hand.

'I like it.....to keep you company.'

The pain flowed away from my body, and I looked into Bianca's beautiful blue eyes. Everything was going to be allright. She wouldn't let anything happen to me, just as I wouldn't let anything happen to her. I slowly drifte away and I fell into a deep sleep. 

'Just rest Yorokei....just rest.....I will watch over you....tonight has cost you a lot of your strenth....it is time you rest.'


	9. Chapter 8: Burning Memories, Warm Love a...

- Chapter 8 –

- Burning Memories, Warm Love and a Firey Temper –

'I saw it! He opened his eyes just now!'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes…Look! There he goes again! He is coming around!'

'Quickly! If we lose him…where is that Elvenblood boy?'

'Already coming!'

'Okay boy. Swallow this. It is not nice…please work with me…open your mouth if you can hear me..'

I slowly opened my mouth and a few drops of a potion that tasted like a bad brand of fertilizer. I wanted to spit it out, but someone had already pushed my jaws together, so I was forced to swallow the potion. I let it go through my throat, and closed my eyes.

'He should be coming around now any minute....please be patient with him.'

'Yorokei?'

'Huh?'

'Thank goodness!'

I opened my eyes and looked around. Everything became much more clear to me now. I could see my surroundings. Now I noticed that I was in the hospital wing. Some heavy weight was lying on me. I looked up. It was Bianca. She had her arms tuck around me and lied with her head on my chest.

'I am so glad you're still….'

My face went tomatoes, and I tuck my arms around her, not really knowing what to do, but it felt good. I looked around, and saw Stephany, Elysander and Goldion as well. They looked really happy, as if they hadn't expected me to wake up ever again. Elysander came to me. He looked quite exhausted, and looked at his hands, which were partially bruised.

'Well, my friend….you cost me a lot of power…but I am glad you are back again….it was worth it.'

I didn't really understand. 'Cost you a lot of…'

Stephany interrupted. 'You remember, back when Lily fainted? When Elysander heard about you lying in the hospital, he immediately volunteered to heal you every day!'

I wanted to go and sit up straight in my bed, but my body felt too heavy. I still felt really drowsy, and wondered….

'Guys? Why am I in the hospital in the first place? And how long have I been?'

Bianca startled when she heard that question, and little tears came into her eyes.

'You mean….you don't remember?'

My mind wasn't allowing me to remember a lot…..the past few hours before I must have fainted, were blank somehow. I just couldn't remember! Now I realised how Lily must have felt all the time.

Bianca sighed, and looked at the others. Elysander spoke to her. 'You are the one who has seen it all happen…..you and…..well, but he won't tell him anyway. Not that he will dare getting in Yorokei's path again…I think you should tell him. He has the right to know…and he has been in a coma for almost two weeks…I think it is good for him to know why.'

Bianca looked sad. 'Must I?'

Stephany nodded. 'We will….give you some time to talk it out in private….that will help, I think. Good luck, Bianca.'

'Thank you, Stephany….Elyander, Goldion…thanks for visiting Yorokei.'

I looked at them, too. 'Yes….thank you. You will come visit more often, won't you?'

'Boom! Of course Goldion will!'

Elysander grinned. 'I will see you later, Yorokei.'

The three of them walked out of the hospital wing, and only me and Bianca were left. Bianca sat down in the chair next to me, and took my hand. She looked me straight into the eyes.

'You and Roy….you challenged Roy to a duel. Do you remember that?'

'Yes….yes I do…he kept bothering you. You walked away from me because of it.'

'Yes….well, I shall tell you the rest of it…as far as I have seen…'

Bianca swallowed something through her throat, and began telling.

'The three of us went to the forbidden forest…neither of you were willing to stop duelling. You both insisted on fighting it out right there. It was quite a batlle, and something you didn't expect happened…..Roy was stronger then you. He used strong spells like the shield charm and the paralitis spell.'

'That is quite a thing.'

'Yes…..he hit you with that paralitis spell, and then….it became scary. Roy walked towards you. He was really angry with you. You had hid him with a Furnunculus spell, full in the face. You know the result of that. He put your paralysed body against a tree, and said something to you. Then, he laughed. He looked like he was possessed or something…and he fired something even more terrible then the paralitis spell.'

'What?'

'The crucio curse.'

'I…..I remember!!'

'You do?'

'Yes! I had inmense pain! For a moment….I wished all would be over, and then..the voice came again.'

Bianca bended over.

'A voice? You heard a voice?'

'Yes! The voice told me to punish Roy, to use my powers…..I don't know if I have any, and then….I felt the centre of my body glowing…..and…..well…that is it…'

'You indeed rose up again.'

'I did?'

'Yes….from all trees in the forest, from all living things, energy was flowing towards your body.  It was really strange….that energy was flowing around your body. Getting brighter….and brighter….you were emitting light….and flicked your wand at Roy. He was smacked against a tree, pretty hard. All this time, you weren't acting like yourself…you were cold. As If you were uncontrollable….'

'Uncontrollable….'

'Sorry, but you were. And after you had smacked Roy against that tree, you came to your senses. And that's when……'

Bianca got tears in her eyes, and began to cry. 'Don't make me….tell it again….it was…horrible…please Yorokei..'

I fell her around the shoulders and caressed her again.

'You can do it. Please Bianca…' Our eyes met each other again and I looked straight into hers. 'I HAVE to know.'

'You….went up.'

'Went up?'

'You went up in flames. Totally burnt….as if you had lost control over the powers that you used…..and that….is the whole thing.'

'I burnt?'

'Badly. Your whole body was like on….fire….Lucky for you Professor Lupin had been nearby….he seemed to have known about the duel, and used a pump spell to put you out. Otherwise….you certainly would have died.'

I fell totally silent…..What had happened? How could I have done all that….And then, almost dying….going up in flames…I….

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!'

Every single memory…came back. The pain….the voice….the flames…my mind couldn't take the pressure….and everything came out, in a big scream. It took me one hour to regain myself…..

Later that day, I was allowed to leave the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey gave me a potion that would reduce the burn, and I was allowed to go. Bianca had stayed by my bedside the entire day, and walked with me towards the great hall for lunch. As we walked through the hall, she came walking closer to me. 

'I…uhm…'

'Yeah well….me too…'

'Thanks for the help with Roy…'

'You are welcome.'

She took my arm an laid her head on my shoulder, walking besides me. It was the very first time for me a girl did that. I went really red, and Bianca too. For the very first time since long, she looked happy. Really happy. As if I finally met the true Bianca.

'Do you mind, Yorokei?'

'No. No, I uh….like it, too.'

Bianca giggled. 'They might think we have something going on…'

I smiled. 'I wouldn't mind.'

A small smile from Bianca. 'Me neither.'

'Now what was that with Roy all about?'

Bianca seemed to doubt if she was going to answer that question. Perhaps Roy was still bothering her. Luckily, she didn't ignore me any more, which was a big relief already. 

'Well..I can tell you. But do not tell it to people you don't trust.'

'I won't.'

'Roy has a brother. His name is Kevin. And he's a squib.'

'You are kidding!'

'Yes….I heard him and his parents talking when I was at platform 9 ¾. Accidentally. Roy noticed it, and told me never to tell anyone else. It might embarrass him, he said.'

'So….that's what this was all about?'

'Yeah….that….'

'There is more?'

'Well, I think he likes me….'

I was in shock. 'Roy? Likes you?'

'Yes…I think so. But he is ashamed of loving someone not pureblooded….so I am out of the question I guess….Not that I mind.'

'Roy liking you…..poor you.'

Bianca grinned. 'Yup…poor me.'

'Bianca?'

'Yes?'

'I have to confess….I like you, too.'

Bianca was startled when she heard that, but looked relieved, as if I had finally said something she wanted to hear since a long time. She smiled broadly and went red.

'I like you….a lot.'

I took Bianca by both hands. It must have looked very silly in a corridor where students just walked in and out. But I didn't really care. I looked into her big, blue eyes and knew….I liked Bianca…a lot, too. And before I realised what I said, the question popped out of my mouth.

'Want to be my partner at the Yule Ball?'

'Yule Ball? But we can't! We are first years students!'

'We can. Want to be my partner?'

'Yes. Yes, Yorokei. I would really like that!'

'Me too.'

Some time later, I found Stephany back in the common room, where she was playing a nice game of wizards chess with Goldion. Goldion was ordering his chess pieces around the board quite chaotically, it was really amusing, since his chess pieces refused to move just because he wasn't clear enough on them. I walked up to my room, to get some sleep, but when I came halfway the staircase, Stephany interrupted.

'Yorokei….have you seen Lily anywhere?'

'Lily?'

'Your fairy?'

'I know Lily….but….Oh no! She flew away! She was angry with me because I was being rude to her! She hasn't been found yet?'

'No……our guess was that she had been visiting you secretly, but that wasn't the case, then.'

'Darn….why did I have to yell at her? She must be miles away by now…probably back to where she came from. Can't blame her, either.'

'I don't think so, Yorokei.'

Stephany rose up from her chair and walked towards me.

'Lily really cares about you, Yorokei. A lot. Since you are the one that rescued her life. And she knew about you and Roy getting into a fight, didn't she?'

'Yes…yes, she did.'

'She wouldn't let you face that kind of danger alone. I think Lily has been around here somewhere all the time, to make sure you would be safe. She must be hiding somewhere around the castle, I think. Besides, going back home? I don't believe that. She has amnesia. She wouldn't have the famest clue of how to get back home.'

'Stephany?'

'Yes?'

'You are absolutely right. Thank you.'

'You best go look for her. I will check around the castle courtyard a bit.'

'Good. Thank you so much! Then I will do the castle!'

'Boom! Sickkle! And Goldion will do the lake, yes he will!'

'Okay then. Three of us searching for Lily. Hopefully, that will be enough. But just make sure to be back in the Great Hall in time for dinner, okay?'

'No problem!'

As the other two went outside, I started combing out the possible areas that Lily might have fled to. Some locations were of course more obvious then others, the Slytherin common room for instance was way off since neither of us liked Slytherin, and Lily wouldn't go there if here life depended on it. She could of course have gone to Hagrid, the Care for Magical Creatures teacher, but he lived outside at the castle courtyard and that was Stephany's territory to check. I decided to ask Peter about it, since Lily liked him very much and Peter was certain to take care of her if she had asked to. But Peter also said he hadn't seen any of Lily since the day I ended up in the hospital. Then, a clue Stephany gave me sprang to mind: the hospital wing. If Lily indeed would have liked to keep an eye out for me, that would have been the perfect place to flee to. But, that wasn't the case. I searched under every bed, but still no sign of her. After that, I checked every single classroom I had been in, and asked students around if they had seen Lily, but none of them had. I was just about to make my way to the Great Hall, when I met a familiar person.

It was Roy Sulferwood. His face went even more pale then usual when he spotted me. I slowly walked towards him, looking him into his eyes.

'How did you know THAT spell?'

'I….I don't want to fight you, Yorokei…I will leave Bianca alone!'

'I want to know, Roy!' I began sweating….feeling hot again. 

'Yes…that's it. Make him feel it!' That voice again!

Roy fell onto his back. I was sure I didn't touch him! He fell on purpose! But what for? And then, another person came walking out of the hall. It was Professor Snape. His eyes seemed to lighten up like little flames when he saw me.

'Well. Attacking the same student twice, I see?'

'Professor Snape! I wasn't!'

'You don't really think I am going to listen to any of those lame excuses you are about to cook up now? Get moving! We will go and see Mr. Filch.'

Professor Snape looked back at Roy. 'Move on Mr. Sulferwood. You will no longer be pestered by this….excuse for a student.'

Roy said nothing, probably because of the look I gave him. He carried on his way, and Professor Snape pushed me through the corridor.

'Who do you think you are? Coming late….fighting other students whenever you want…you are not a god or something. You are no better then anyone else. And now, we will get you punished for that indecent behaviour of yours. Hopefully Mr. Filch will have plenty of jobs left to do for you…'

'But Professor….he has been teasing a girl really bad! And I was only trying to-'

'Stop blabbing! Roy told me everything about the affair with this Palleo girl….and I do not believe he intended to hurt her. He was devastated when it happened..'

If Roy would ever get a grade in any kind of education, I thought, it would be in acting. Acting as if what happened to Bianca was an accident, acting as the victim of the duel, and acting as if I pushed him over just now. But at least he was scared the heck out of me now. Which was good. For the moment.

A half an hour later I found myself mopping the floor in the entrance hall of the castle. I wasn't allowed to use any sorts of magic of course, which made the whole thing a mind-killing thing. I wondered if Stephany or Goldion would have found Lily by now? Lily herself would probably be scolding at Professor Snape at the moment, trying to defend me, not realising that could only get me into more trouble. I really missed my little fairy companion. I wondered what would happen if she ever met her original master again. Would she go back to him? Probably. Who wanted to stay with a young wizard with a selfish attitude, I told myself. It was as if Ms. Norris, who had carefully been watching me doing my work, could read my mind, cause she had a really mean glint in the eyes, which was to tell me 'you are darn right, you piece of wizard scum. You should not even be here anymore. Go back to your mommy and daddy, and cry or something'. Stupid cat. As I mopped the floor, suddenly, Ms. Norris looked totally in another direction, and started crouching over the floor towards a dark corridor. I laughed.

'Probably a mouse', I replied. But then, I suddenly realised where Ms. Norris was going. That was no ordinary corridor! It was the corridor I was drawn to the very first day I had arrived at Hogwarts…..The day I found…The place I found….

'AAAAH!'

'LILY!'

Ms. Norris had sprung into the corridor, probably to get Lily for dinner, who must have been hiding in there for all these days! I made a note that I had to bang my head hard against the wall for not looking at that spot in the first place! Lily flew close to the ground, and her lilac glow wasn't really bright, meaning that she was nearly powerless. I had to help her quick, or else she would end up as Ms. Norris supper! I picked up the mop and ran behind Ms. Norris, who in her turn was chasing Lily around the staircase.

'Leave her alone you stupid cat!'

I swung my mop at Ms. Norris, but like a true athlete, she managed to jump over it before it actually hit her. She let out a loud 'MEOW!', probably calling her boss and only friend: Mr. Filch. Lily looked around and finally noticed me.

'Yorokei?'

'Hang in there Lily! Just keep flying! I will get her away from you! Can't you fly any higher?'

'N0….flying is hard enough on me as it is right now! I haven't eaten or slept very well the past few days thanks to you!'

'Look, I am trying to save you!' I swooped the mop over Ms. Norris head once more. Evaded again. 'If you aren't going to cooperate, then Filch is going to get here before I get this darn cat of of you and you will end up as cat-food! There must be something you can do!'

'Like what? Saying 'boo?'

'Now if you continue acting like that, I might swing this mop over YOUR head next, you know!'

'You are such a jerk!'

'And you are so bad-tempered!'

'Look, my magic is almost at zero!'

'Then you have some! Use it!'

'But I will faint!'

'I will take care of you! Besides, otherwise Ms. Norris certainly WILL take care of you! So what do you do?'

'Hmph….maybe…if you say sorry!'

'Look, I am sorry, okay!'

'Mean it!'

'I am really very SORRY! Now quickly save your hide before that cat gets to you!'

'Well….I see your point. Okay then….close your eyes!'

'What!?'

'Just close your eyes, OKAY!?'

I closed my eyes, and then, I heard Lily scream. A big flash of light. Had Ms. Norris caught her? Oh no! After the light went away, I opened my eyes again. Ms. Norris was Meowing in agony, lying on the floor. Lily lied in front of her, with no energy left at all. I quickly picked her up in my hands and held her in front of me.

'Lily? Please! Answer! I am sorry for all I did! I was stupid, I know….I should have trusted you…please Lily, don't go dying on me…'

Lily coughed. 'Don't be so overdramatic, Yorokei…..You know I can't stand that…'

My mouth fell open of joy. 'Lily!'

Lily smiled and opened her eyes. She looked at me. 'Well….I guess I should lose a bit of my temper, too…'

'Maybe..'

'I was worried about you, Yorokei…..I heard you were in the hospital…and at night, when everyone else was gone, I visited you…..hoping you would get out of your coma soon. I am sorry that I ate some of the Bertie Botts that Stephany gave you…I was really hungry….'

As little as she was, I hugged Lily tight. I must have looked really odd. 

'How did you get rid of Norris?'

'Well….that light I emit is, as you know, my energy. My life force. What I did was simply emitting all the energy I had left in me in one single big light, and that has blinded Norris for the coming 15 minutes, I guess….'

'That is why you asked me to close my eyes?'

'Yes. I didn't hate you much enough to blind you just yet.'

'Shall we go back to the dormitory, Lily?'

'I feel a little weak, Yorokei…can't we go to Elysander? He might be able to heal me.'

'I don't know where he is right now….but I do know someone else who might be able to help you get some of your strength back….'

A few moments later I knocked on the big door of Professor Lupin's office. Since he gave me that book about fairies, he might know something about them himself, too. He slowly opened the door and looked very surprised to see me.

'Yorokei! Quick, quick, come in!'

I entered Professor Lupin's office and sat down on an old chair. He quickly picked up two mugs and poured water in them.

'Still vanilla?'

'No thanks. I think I will make do with a regular cup of tea today.'

'Okay then!'

Professor Lupin touched the two cups and muttered a spell. Instantly, the water had turned into hot tea again. Professor Lupin sat down behind his desk and looked me into the eyes, looking worried.

'I didn't know you had come around yet! If I had known, I would have come looking for you straight away!'

'This morning', I replied. ,I would like to talk about it, but my fairy here…look…'

I showed Lily to Professor Lupin, who made a clicking sound with his tongue.

'That fairy is exhausted, I can see. But haven't you read that book of yours yet?'

'No, I-'

'Silly question. Of course you haven't. You went straight into a duel and have been in a coma for nearly two weeks. Well, there are easy things an owner can do to heal a fairy. They used to be common, but nowadays most people have forgotten.'

'What sort of things?'

'Nothing too hard. Simply give the fairy a little beauty treatment. Wash it and so. And be nice. If you don't mean it, it won't work. Try it!'

Professor Lupin pointed towards a lone sink in his office. I poured in some hot water, and added a nice bit of soap. Then, I put Lily in.

'Is that nice, Lily?'

'Yes….this bath is great…despite the way it might look….I already feel some of my power returning. Thanks, Yorokei…'

Professor Lupin smiled. 'Problem solved.'

'Yes, thanks Professor.'

Professor Lupin made a serious face again, and looked towards me. Now probably was the moment he wanted to talk about the duel. He had seen everything, I knew that. What would he say?'

'Well, Yorokei…..about what happened to you…and what you did to Mr. Sulferwood…'

'What he did to me…a Crucio curse! He should be sent for Azkaban for that alone!'

'Yes, you are right. Directly after it all happened, I told Headmaster Dumbledore about it. We hypnotised Roy, making him tell what he knew, but nothing could explain where he had picked up or learned that curse. And you can't put a child in Azkaban without any solid proof. And we don't have that. The only ones who have seen it, are me, and Ms. Palleo. Neither of us will admit we were at the duel since we weren't allowed to be there in the first place. Besides, we do not expect Roy to use such a curse again.'

I banged my fist on the desk. 'Why NOT? He is still a nasty piece of work! He will do it again whenever he needs to! What makes you think he won't?'

Professor Lupin went silent for a moment. 'Professor Dumbledore and I have our reasons to believe that Roy won't be able to use that curse any more…'

'But-'

'No. That is all I can tell you about Roy. And besides…I think that what has happened to you is way more important to talk about right now!'

'I do not remember everything…'

'Has it been told to you?'

'Yes. Bianca told me.'

'Good. Now Bianca has only been able to tell me what she has seen. What I want to know, is….what did you notice during your….action?'

'Well…there was this voice…telling me to attack Roy. Punishing him because of that Crucio curse.'

'A voice? Can you be more specific?'

'It was a male voice…..not too old…I don't know. He knew my name. Called me Yorokei.'

'And did you recognize the voice?'

'No. Not at all.'

'Never heard it before?'

'Well…two or three times while I was studying here. I don't know…I didn't pay too much attention to it.'

'Okay…so we know that. Tell me what you noticed while you tossed Roy against the tree.'

'I didn't. It went automatic. I wasn't even in control. I was aware of what was going on, but I did not realise it was me doing that. I only felt a big glow, getting warmer inside my chest. And then…'

'Yes. I know. You were almost burned alive.'

We sat there for two minutes, saying nothing. Then, Professor Lupin took the word again.

'My guess….and also that of Professor Dumbledore….is that something is growing inside you. Becoming stronger.'

'Is that the voice?'

'Could be. Perhaps because Hogwarts is a place filled with magic, something…a strange sort of power, has been awakened, and has begun to manifest itself.'

'What sort of power?'

Professor Lupin thought a long time before he answered that question. 'I think that saying what kind of powers it are is irrelevant at this time. You have not yet developed them….you are not yet in control and the question is if you will ever be. Perhaps that power will never even find it's way out.'

'Is my power a dangerous one?'

The Professor took a sip of his tea. 'Depends. On how YOU decide to use it.'

Professor Lupin stood up from his chair and rummaged through the books on his bookshelf. He took out a big, black book with a yellow star on the cover. It simply said: 'Magic Powers'.

'This book contains a lot of Magic Powers wizards have proven to posses through the ages. Perhaps yours is amongst them. You can always try and find a lead.'

'Thanks Professor. And thanks for the help with Lily.'

'Don't mention it.'

I took Lily from the sink, and dried her. She began to glow as bright as ever before.

'Yay! I am healed! Thanks Professor Lupin!'

Professor Lupin just smiled. 

'Uhm..Professor..there is one more thing..?'

'And that might be?'

'I was wondering….I wanted to take Bianca out for the Yule Ball…Since we have both been through a lot recently, and we could use some kind of relaxation…could you get us in somehow?'

The Professor made a sorry face. 'Sorry, Yorokei…As much as I would like you two to have a good time, without a special invitation or being a fourth years student or up…Yule Ball is out of the question for you, I am afraid.'

My happy face went a bit sad again. 'Well, thanks anyway.'

'Bye Yorokei.'

I left the office and went back to my dormitory.

Lily flew alongside me all the time. 'Hey Yorokei…don't be so sad…you can take Bianca for a walk or something else romantic. Besides…you have bigger things to worry about with these strange things happening to you.'

I sighed. 'I suppose you are right, Lily….'

'They say you went up in flames…..is that correct?'

'Yes. Yes, that is right…'

'Strange.'

'What's strange?'

'I just remembered something. About the message I was supposed to give you…I was told about fire indeed…..perhaps that your powers are connected to fire?'

'Some powers…I set myself aflame.'

'Yes…it is strange…maybe I will remember more in time.'

When entering the dormitory, I went straight to bed. It had been a hard day. But then, just when I was about to let myself fall onto the bed and just fall asleep, I noticed something lying on my pillow. It were to little pieces of yellow parchment. I picked them up, and looked what was on them. I couldn't believe my eyes.

_SPECIAL YULE BALL ADMITTANCE PASS_

_The holder of this pass will gain free admittance to the Yule Ball at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, No matter their age or study. This person is also allowed backstage to meet the various groups of singers and special guests that will attend to this years Yule Ball._

_Was signed, Professor Albus Dumbledore_

I cheered out loud! Two admittance passes for Yule Ball! And special ones, too, so Bianca and I could visit backstage events at the Yule Ball as well! And under it was another, smaller note. I picked it up.

_Hello, Yorokei_

_Some people told me you would really like to take that girl of yours, Bianca, out to the Yule Ball. Since First Years aren't officially admitted to attend Yule Ball, and I had these two passes, I thought the two of you would have the most fun of them. Greetings,_

_A Friend_

This was so great! My day was made! After all that happened, a little hope shined through the dark clouds of the past few days. Bianca and I would go to Yule Ball, I made up with Lily….Life was good. Though I wondered who gave me the passes. Would it have been Professor Lupin? He had said he couldn't help me, but hey, that's what he said when I went to duel Roy. Perhaps he had a change of mind. Anyway, the passes were mine, and soon, I would be going to Yule Ball with Bianca. Now if only I had gotten myself some dress robes back at Diagon Alley now….


	10. Chapter 9: A Kiss For Christmas

- Chapter 9 –

- A Kiss For Christmas –

Finally! Christmas time had arrived! One of my favourite times of the year! Still rubbing the sleepiness out of my eyes, I walked down to the Ravenclaw common room. Goldion already was there, rummaging through the enormous pile of Christmas presents that laid under the big tree that had been put up in the common room. 

'Sickkle – has to be here somewhere!!'

Another box was thrown through the air. I hoped that there wouldn't be too many fragile packages amongst them for the other students, cause Goldion had a worse effect on the presents then a red cloth on a bull. Suddenly, his face was filled with joy. From all the packages, he took a little round one, perhaps the tiniest of all presents. He let one of his long fingers caress the little package.

'Goldions present.....'

Quickly, Goldion unpacked his present, and his face was full of glee. He held out a single shiny golden galleon, and held it into the light that fell through the big window. I grinned. I should have known. Goblins were known for their extreme love for gold and other valuables, and Goldion was of coruse no exception. 

'Merry Christmas, Goldion!'

Goldion shook up. He hadn't noticed me yet. 'Have a boom-merry Christmas, Yorokei!'

Goldion picked up a present from the pile. Well, a present....it was more like a ball of paper.

'The sickkle-good present Goldion made for Yorokei!'

'A present?'

Goldions big eyes looked excited. I hadn't gotten him a present, and felt a bit guilty about that right now. I unpacked the present, and discovered...

'A handkerchief?'

'Because Goldion made Yorokei's cauldron go big boom! Next time it happens, Yorokei can sickkle-shine it!'

I smiled. 'Thanks Goldion.'

Suddenly, an excited little fairy came flying into the room.

'Presies, presies, _PRESIES_!'

Lily flied straight into the big pile of presents, which was really humorous to see since she was so tiny. She retrieved a big, heavy package, nearly twice her own size. Thus, she had a lot of trouble lifting it. However, she was determined to see her present, and put it up on the table. She hopped up and down with joy and excitement.

'Openit, openit, _OPENIT_!'

I laughed. 'Easy Lily, easy...it won't run away from you!'

'Oh! Quick, Yorokei! I want to know what's in it! I love presies!'

Of course I already knew what was in it. I opened the package and revealed the big bottle of bathsoap that I had ordered by owl for Lily.

'Ooooooh! Lily-scented! How did you know that was my favourite perfume?'

'Lucky guess. Now you can take a bath every day to revitalize your strength.'

'Thank you, Yorokei!!'

I started to unpack the rest of the presents that laid there for me. Stephany had gotten me a set of aquarel pencils to draw with (that would be a totaly new way to draw, she said), and Lily had gotten me a pack of chocolate frogs 'though Stephany actually bought them since Lily had no money, being a fairy and all'. From Bianca came box of sugar quills, and from my parents came the most usefull gift: dress robes. They were black with blue ruches on them, and looked perfect. A note came with it from my mother.

_Dear Yorokei,_

_You see? I told you so! You would need those dress robes! Unfortunately, they only had this one in your size, so I had to make do. They look a bit too much like ordinary robes, but I guess that is what you get...your father and brother miss you. Hope you are fine. Greets,_

_Mom_

Those would come in useful tonight! I thanked Lily and waited for Stephany to come out of bed and thank her, but she didn't show up. I asked one of the girls that came down from the girls dormitory where she was, but she said that Stephany must have left her dormitory early in the morning. I decided it was no use to wait for her, and went down for breakfast. 

'Yorokei!'

'yeah mmmm….Lily? What's the –oh this is good!- matter?'

'Yorokei, if you are going to keep eating like that, you won't be able to fit into those dress robes of yours tonight!'

'Ah Lily, *chomp* I will be fine for Yule Ball!'

'Sigh….'

'Did you just say…..Yule..Ball?'

I chocked on my loaf. It wasn't even necessary to turn around and see who it was. It was Professor Snape once again.

'Perhaps you Ravenclaw brain needs polishing, but Yule Ball is off for first-years students.'

'But I have special admittance passes, Professor Snape.'

I took the admittance passes from my pocket and showed them to him. His face showed no signs of any expression when he examined the passes, and he handed them back to me. Now his face showed an angry smirk.

'Well….what a surprise. Official admittance passes…..if you excuse me, I have some business to settle.'

Professor Snape walked away and I saw him moving towards the Slytherin table, towards Roy to be exact…

The day flew by without me even noticing it. But there did change something. There was something about me that usually wasn't the case, but I didn't want to notice it. I sat down in the common room, already dressed and playing a game of wizard's chess with Peter Gollable.

'K-k-k-knight to to to E thr…….five!'

The knight looked at me in amazement. 'Sorry, but I can't go there', he replied. ,Ask him', he said, pointing at the rook.

'You then! Move to E five…or four….or six…'

Peter laughed. 'Let's quit this silly game, Yorokei! I want to play a game of chess with you when you are at your fullest.'

'I AM I AM!'

'You just put yourself Check-mate in case you didn't notice….'

'Huh?! What? Buddi….I-eh…'

'Yorokei….you are way to tense…what is bothering you?'

'Nothing! Nothing is bothering me!'

'Yes something is bothering you…'

Peter stared me into the eyes and took his queen. He put his queen next to my queen and grinned.

'It is the girl right?'

I sighed. 'Why deny it…..yes. My very first date and I am terribly frightened that I will screw up.'

Peter had a smile on his face, and thought. 'You won't screw up Yorokei…..if you like each other, then you can't screw up, no matter what. And you know why not?'

A moment of silence fell. 

'Because she likes you, too. And she likes you for who you are. She won't let you down. Just relax and be yourself.'

'But I can't even dance!'

'Neither can I. And I have been going to the Yule Ball for three years now.'

'But…how?'

Peter grinned. 'Girls often CAN dance. They will take the lead. Just follow along. Oh and….mind her feet.'

'And there is this other thing....'

'Yes?'

'Terriblyafraidofkissingher.'

'WHAT?'

'I am terribly afraid.....and I am almost certain it might happen tonight....I am afraid of kissing the girl.....look at me! I hadn't even walked hand in hand with a girl a year ago, and now....this...'

'You are lying to yourself, Yorokei...'

'Why that?'

'I know you WANT to kiss the girl. You just are to ashamed to admit it! Maybe you are afraid you will kiss her wrong or someting!'

'No I'm not! I'm-'

'Let go Yorokei....you will be fine.'

Peter rose up from his seat.

'I am going to prepare myself….can't keep Rachel waiting…'

'Oh, Peter, I still have to thank you!'

Peter looked surprised. 'Thank me? For what?'

'For the advice you just gave me. And for the special admittance passes of course. I suppose they came from you?'

'I didn't send you any special admittance passes, Yorokei.'

Peter walked out of the room, leaving me alone.

A few moments later I was waiting for Bianca in one of the hallways. I remembered this hallway….when had I been here before?

'Well well….it is the little first years from Ravenclaw again!'

I turned around. 'Hello Archibald.'

Archibald grumped. 'Not scared any more I see. That is no fun.'

Archibald studied me and looked at my clothes. 'Why are you dressed up like that? You look like…like…'

'Like a what?'

'Heck, I don't know. In case you didn't notice, I cannot leave my pedestal!'

'Then what is that nonsense about?'

'Gargoyles are allowed to have a bit of fun, don't they?'

I grinned. 'These are dress robes. It is Yule Ball tonight and I am taking a girl out.'

'A girl no less. Is she……hot?'

I went red. 'Well uhm…I uh…'

'What's the matter Yorokei?'

It was Bianca. She came walking down the staircase in front of me. My jaw must have fallen on the floor when she entered, cause Bianca always had been beautiful, but she was gorgeous now. She wore a yellow dress with the shoulder parts left open and drapes elegantly worn round her neck, that went down all the way to the floor. Bianca smiled.

'Well? What's the matter?'

I turned around, to look at Archibald. He sat still, blinked, and turned into stone. 

'Nothing Bianca, nothing…'

We both fell completely silent and just stood there, smiling at each other.

'You uhm…you look beautiful….'

'You look good, too. Just wait…'

Bianca touched my hair and started to pluck in it. It was the very first time she stroked me in the hair and face.

'There….that's better. You should comb your hair forwards, you know…it looks even better. And your eyebrows…comb those straight.'

'You sound like my mother…'

'Just helping out. Want to help me, too? Is my hair looking good?'

'How could it be any else?'

Bianca smiled. I held out my arm.

'Going to the ball, Milady?'

Bianca giggled. 'Yes, my friend. Care to accompany me?'

'But of course.'

Our arms locked together, we walked towards the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was wonderfully decorated. Four tall christmas trees stood in each of the corners in the Great Hall, each one decorated in one of the house colours. In the middle stood an even bigger tree, which had little Hogwarts logo's in them, that flied circles around it.

'Must have been Professor Flitwick's work', I said.

'Magic is a wonderful thing, isn't it?'

'You can say that again.'

We sat down at one of the tables and looked around us. And we were looked at, as well. Most students must have thought it was strange, having two first-years attending Yule Ball –together no less-. Everyone was chatting excited with each other, and I also saw some familiar faces entering the room. Dennis Mason, the chess champ, entered with a girl with curly blond hair, and Peter waved as he walked in with a girl in a lovely green dress and short black hair. As more and more students came in, the Great Hall became more and more filled with students. When all of them had found a spot, they fell silent, and Professor Dumbledore, dressed in long red robes with comets on them, rose from the table.

'Well then....and so it seems that it is time for the annual Yule Ball again....I have seen many Yule Balls, but none of them was quite like this one, because the previous one was held a year ago....and I was a year younger....and thus, I declare that each Yule Ball is totally different from any other one. In fact, five years ago, I remember a quite amusing Yule Ball, when a chocolate cake fell on top of....'

Professor McGonnagal let out a loud 'ahem', looking at Professor Dumbledore.

'But...that was five years ago....this is another Yule Ball. And a very special one indeed. Because this is this years Yule Ball, and next year, we won't have this year's Yule Ball, because we are having that one right now. And besides, otherwise we wouldn't have time left for next years Yule Ball.'

Professor Snape shaked his head, looking down at the table.

'And what a wonderfull Yule Ball it is going to be. We have delicious foods, which I will have delivered on your empty tables within mere seconds from now. Also, our school choir will be taking care of the entertainment tonight, there will be all kinds of music for anyone, so I hope you will enjoy it. And now, 'stuff yourselves'.'

At those words, all kinds of food magically appeared on the table. There was turkey, a huge plate of mashed potatoes, and a big pile of steak! Me and Bianca filled our plates and sat down at the table again.

'Good food!', I said.

'Yes, it is delicious!', Bianca replied.

'My brother would love this, you know? He loves turkey! Can you believe that he once ate a whole turkey when he was 8 years old, and that father had to go and buy a new one, on Christmas day?'

Bianca laughed out loud. 'He did?!'

'Yes!'

'No way!'

'Yes. But Yoshiro got indigestion the next morning, so he never did that again.'

'You have quite the relatives!'

'Yes, and how about yours?'

Bianca suddenly dropped her fork on the ground. She was shocked by that question. 

'Bianca? Is it something I said?'

'My parents......'

'Yes....we never talked about them. Something I must know?'

Bianca had tears into her eyes, and stared towards nothing. She sighed one time, and looked back at me.

'My parents died….two years ago.'

I was terribly shocked! I had never known…if I had, I would have asked much more tactful.'Oh….I am sorry…I didn't-'

'No, you can't help it, Yorokei…it is my fault for not telling you yet.'

'What happened?'

'It was just a quiet day on the beach. I used to love to go to the beach, and so did my parents. My mother and I drifted of in our rubber boat like any other day, but then, all of the sudden…'

'Yes?'

'A storm. A storm came. Now mom was good at using the boat, but this storm was way too strong. We drifted of. Dad, who was still on the beach, saw all of this happen. He immediately got into the water and came to rescue us, which was an exceptionally heroic attempt considering the storm. He got to our boat, and got us out, back to shore again.'

'Then why?'

'Exhaustion. My dad simply had used all his energy to save us. It was too much for him. He died. And three days later, my mother died as well. Hypothermia. And I….I was lucky I survived….though a lot of me died that day.'

We fell silent when Bianca had told that. I didn't know how to handle the situation, and neither did she. Lucky me, she smiled.

'But that was two years ago…..Since then, I have been living in a muggle orphanage….Until I got the letter from Hogwarts, that is. I miss my parents, but I think they want me to live. To the utmost.'

Suddenly, music began to play from the stage. Bianca grabbed my hand.

'Come on, Yorokei! I want to dance!'

'Dancing?!'

Professor McGonnagol was up the stage, and stood there as some kind of announcer. She amplified her voice with a sonorous spell, and started to speak out loud over the crowd.

'Dear Hogwarts students! I am proud to announce that this year the Hogwarts Choir will be taking care of the music for tonight. So give them a round of applause, and especially for the young talents of the first year! And we do have a special talent! From Ravenclaw house she comes, give her a round of applause: Stephany Belladonna!'

Stephany walked up the stage in a dark blue dress, and her head was red like a tomato. She looked into the crowd and spoke.

'Hello everyone…I am Stephany…this is one of the first times I am singing in front of a live audience, and I am a bit nervous, so you will have to live with that I guess….This song was written for a very good friend of mine. He recently has been through a lot, but he has proven to me that is a good friend to everyone around him…and thus, I arranged that he could be here….with his girl….to hear my song. It's named: Potion of Love.'

Stephany took a deep breath, and began to sing…

_Out of love! Out of love!_

_That's what's our potion's made of_

_And no bad stuff_

_They say love can be bought_

_With potions, spells and that stuff_

_But I know they're not right_

_That's not what our love's made out of_

_It comes straight from  the heart_

_It will never wear off_

_Come on now, make a bow_

_And now let's_

_Make a potion, make a potion, make a potion,_

_Filled up with our hope and friendship and love_

_And stir it in full motion, in full motion, in full motion,_

_So it sticks together_

_Our potion's better then way better then way better then_

_Any other anyone's ever made_

_Cause it's made out of love, out of love_

_So why won't you guys have some?_

_It's for everyone!_

_Now if you spread your love_

_And happiness through the land_

_Then suddenly, a lot_

_Of people start to understand_

_Simply reach out your hand_

_Find yourselves a new friend_

_Let us fly to the sky_

_And now let's_

_Make a potion, make a potion, make a potion,_

_Filled up with our hope and friendship and love_

_And stir it in full motion, in full motion, in full motion,_

_So it sticks together_

_Our potion's better then way better then way better then_

_Any other anyone's ever made_

_Cause it's made out of love, out of love_

_So why won't you guys have some?_

_It's for everyone!_

_Out of love! Out of love!_

_That's what's our potion's made of_

_And no bad stuff_

Everyone cheered for Stephany when she stopped, and Bianca and I cheered the loudest of everyone. Now I know who had gotten us the passes! Stephany! I had to thank her later, I imprinted in my mind. The band started playing music again, and now, Bianca grabbed my hands.

'Can you dance, Yorokei?'

'N-no….'

'Okay then….you just hold your left arm stretched out….I will stretch out my right.'

I stretched out my left arm, so it came at the same height as Bianca's right arm. 'Like this?'

'Yes. Now tuck your arm around my waist.'

I did so, but was scared to tuck it there really tight, fearing that I might get to close for comfort. Scaring Bianca was the last I wanted to do. 'Okay then..'

Bianca smiled. 'No silly! You have to come much closer! As if you would hug me, but not just as tight as real hugging.'

Now I was not more then an inch away from Bianca's face with mine. Her eyes looked into mine, and a big smile came on her face. Now she tuck her arm around my waist, too. My belly felt strange. As if a bunch of ping pong balls were rapidly beaten through my stomach.

'Yorokei….you must get over that shy part of yours, you know. It is radiating off of you. I like you. You do not need to be afraid of disappointing me. You are too sweet. Now come on, come a little closer to me.'

I did so…and Bianca began moving on the rhythm of the music.

'Just dance in circles…and every now and then, I will make a big circle. You will have to move along, but don't worry. You will notice.'

We moved over the dance floor. And then, all the sudden….I lost all of my nerve. It was completely gone. We elegantly danced over the dance floor, and I couldn't take my eyes of Bianca. And seemingly, the opposite was also true. As we danced, I suddenly saw something. Something that partially reduced my joy.

'Sulferwood alert.'

'What?'

Roy was dancing amongst the other dancing students on the floor. With him was a girl with a very pale face, a long nose, and brown hair, divided into two ponytails. That girl had been with him back when I challenged him for the duel, too. 

'What is he doing here?!' Bianca asked.

'How could he be here? He doesn't have any passes like we-?'

'What's the matter?'

'Snape.'

'What?'

'Professor Snape. Gave him the passes. After I showed him mine. Probably will be able to make up a good excuse for giving him those. Snape knowing, he is going to throw it over the pressure I have been giving him the last few days or something.'

'You did?'

'No. But I still haven't quite finished with Roy yet.'

'What are you?'

'Dance some closer to him, will you?'

Slowly, I picked my wand from my dress robes, and slipped it down my left sleeve. No one could see it. Then, we danced close to Roy. I lowered my hand, and whispered 'diffindo'.

I hit Roy's belt, and his pants fall off to his knees. Everybody was roaring with laughter, and suddenly it looked like only Roy was standing in the crowd. He went white. He whispered towards his girl.

'Uh….Suzy?'

'Just….go!'

 And he and his girl quickly ran of. Snape threw one mean glare towards me, but this time, he couldn't prove anything. Hey, the only thing I did…was dancing.

Later that night, after the party was finished, Bianca and I went outside to the castle courtyard for a short walk.

'And did you see his face? Priceless moment!'

'Yes! He will know never to mock with me any more!'

'Yeah. He looked really jealous too, at you.'

'But he had a girl!'

'He wants me, but will never have me..'

We sat down on a bench outside and I laid my arm around Bianca's neck. She laid her head against my shoulder. We sat there, together, without saying a single word for about ten minutes. Then, I noticed a tear dropping down her cheek. I rubbed it of her cheek.

'Hey…why are you crying?'

Bianca was sighed. 'Do you think they can see us?'

'Who can see us, Bianca?'

She looked up to the sky. 'My parents….what would they say if they saw me….us….like this?'

'I think you know best….'

Bianca did not give an answer to that, so I replied again.

'But I think….they would be happy for you. That you have finally found someone…you feel comfortable with…someone you can be happy with.'

'Who says I am happy with you?' But that clearly was a joke. 'Of course I am happy with you.'

We smiled and looked each other into the eyes.

'I think they might see us from above there….might be looking at us.'

'What do you think?'

'Yes…..I think they would want me to be happy.'

'Bianca….'

'Yes, Yorokei?'

'Ever since the first moment I saw you, I have been…fascinated….enchanted by you. I can't really explain…I don't know what it is. All I know is that I want to be with you….want to be there for you when Roy or anyone else threatens you. And I will continue to do so…anyhow…'

'Yorokei?'

'Yes Bianca?'

'You are the sweetest sorcerer in the whole world.'

Now we looked each other into the eyes…and a glint in her eyes told me…this was the moment…A time to kiss….I did want to, but was scared….I came closer…and closer, and then, suddenly, 'auch!' something bumped against the back of my head and pushed me against her….against her lips. We kissed each other….first once, slowly…we both shook back. 

'Well, I uh….'

'It's…'

A little lilac light came flying down. 'I do my best to stay out of it, keep it private, and still you need my help….you love each other, right?'

We nodded.

'Then go for it.'

We smiled. We laid our arms around each other, and came closer to each other again. We closed our eyes, and then……we kissed. For the very first time, we kissed. I felt like nothing in the whole world could take this golden moment from me. Bianca and I were going to be an item. For now, and for a very long time.

****


	11. Chapter 10: Too Close for Comfort

- Chapter 10 –

- Too Close for Comfort –

'And there she goes again! Stephany Belladonna sets course after the snitch! This game of Ravenclaw versus Slytherin proves to be a very exciting match! Both teams were victorious in their previous match, and now these proud houses face each other in the fourth Quidditch match of this junior season!'

'Go Stephany!' 

Stephany flew towards the snitch, but then….

'Oh! Nice move from Slytherin beater Danny Dark! And the snitch has escaped again! Score is 20 for Ravenclaw, and 70 for Slytherin! Ravenclaw keeper Li Hikari seems to have trouble in stopping the fierce Slytherin chaser team, which works as a perfect unity!'

That was true. You could say a lot of bad things about the Slytherin Quidditch team, like their usual foul play, the fact that their team nearly only consisted of boys the size of lumberjacks and numerous more things, but the Slytherin chaser team had absolutely been the sensation of this match. No more then a minute after 20-70 it had become 20-90, and no sight of the snitch yet.

'Check out that awesome Hawkshead attacking formation! Perfect! Black throws the quaffle to Frasier, Frasier throws to Grinch…Johnson bravely hits a bludger to their direction, but to no avail! Once again, SLYTHERIN SCORES!'

Goldion went mad. 'If they go on like this, the match will go BOOM for Ravenclaw!'

'Yes Goldion…but they seem to be superior to us…although I hate to admit it. I don't want to think what might happen if Slytherin actually wins…maybe Roy will even regain some courage to talk to me again.'

'That would be a pity', Lily replied.

'Ella Knight! Look at her going! She is speeding towards the Slytherin goalposts! She is almost close enough to score now! But! Oh no!'

The chaser team of Slytherin had blocked the way for Ella from all sides.

'Unbelievable! The Parkin's Pincer! These boys have worked out their moves very well, and….wait, where is McMahon going?'

The Slytherin seeker had seen the snitch and hurried towards it. Stephany chased her around, but both of them flied at the same speed. Stephany couldn't catch it this way! McMahon held out her hand to catch the snitch, and nearly got to it. She touched it with one of her fingers, and then….

'THAT WAS SO CLOSE! That bludger saved the game for Ravenclaw for the moment! And McMahon  got hit badly on the hand! It looks totally wrangled! She flies down towards madame Hooch, but Belladonna still chases the snitch around! Can she catch it?'

No bludgers around…that would form no obstacle for Stephany…but Slytherin keeper Nicholas Stump, who hadn't had to much to worry about anyway, had flied towards Stephany, and made a move with his fist, nearly punching Stephany in the face! She lost track of the snitch again.

'That certainly was close for Belladonna! And the game has gone on! With dazzling actions from the three Slytherin chasers, the score has changed to 20-130! If this goes on, Ravenclaw can say goodbye to the victory!'

I saw Roy cheering from the other side. This couldn't be true! Slytherin couldn't win! Li Hikari, the Ravenclaw keeper, was yelling towards his other teammates.

'Break their routine! They co-operate! If you can avoid that, we will win!'

'Hikari tries to talk sense into his group, but they are so overwhelmed by the challenger, that they hardly even hear him. Too bad….Another goal, 20-150! Face it Ravenclaw, you will lose…'

Stephany suddenly dived towards the ground. Had she seen the snitch? The Slytherin seeker, Joyce McMahon, flied the same way. Stephany started flying close to the ground at thrilling speed. But then, she raced between the goalposts, zigzagging through them. She went up again, and down to the ground again.

'What does Belladonna think she is doing? It is as if she is doing ballet! How long can she-LOOK AT MCMAHON!'

Stephany had outsmarted Joyce. She had been doing so many dazzling stunts, that it had made Joyce dizzy. Her face went green, and she let go of her broom. With a loud 'ooooh' from the crowd, she crashed onto the ground.

'Hah! Can you believe that!? What a move! And what….there is the snitch! On the other side of the field! It is 20-160 now…and Oh my god, look!'

As Stephany was rushing towards the snitch, the team of Slytherin Chasers came gliding in with another Hawkshead attacking formation. If they would score before Stephany would catch the snitch, it would be a tie! But if Stephany DID catch the snitch before Slytherin scored….Ravenclaw would win the game! 

'Grinch to Frasier…..A bludger from Jackson….but it missed….Belladonna holds out her hand…Frasier throws up the quaffle, superb catch by Black…Black flies straight towards the goalpost! Belladonna nearly touches the snitch…OOOH! Nearly hit by Cold's bludger! She holds out her hand…she can touch it…Black throws the quaffle! Yes! Belladonna catches the snitch! And Black has scored, but after the snitch was caught! RAVENCLAW WINS with 170-160!!!!!!'

As the crowd went wild, Stephany flew down to the quidditch pitch and schowed the snitch to the public. Her teammates quickly gathered around her, nearly hugging her to death. And then, the Slytherin team landed next to them. You could see the look of disappointment on their faces. But just then, Stephany freed herself from her hugging teammates, and walked towards the Slytherin seeker, who had been brought up back to speed. She held out her hand. A moment of silence fell, also amongst the public. You could see the tense situation burning of their faces. But Joyce let out a sarcastic smirk, and shook Stephany's hand. And the crowd cheered again. Ravenclaw had won, but Slytherin had played superior in the match. And Stephany knew that.

'Stephany, that was great!'

'Really?'

'Really! You were like-magnificent…that move you pulled on that Slytherin seeker  back there…man, that you could pull that of without falling of your broom yourself.'

'Well, I wasn't sure I was gonna make it, either. But you see, it went well. And then I saw the snitch, and just…caught it.'

'That's how SHE calls it.'

Stephany stretched out and looked towards the staircase.

'I think I'm off to bed. It has been a long day by now.'

'Yes…me too…I feel like I have been competing in a four day marathon of Professor Snape lessons…and I tell you, that's not too shabby.'

So it came that we all went to bed early that day. I slept quite fast….although my slumber wouldn't be a pleasant one.

I was in an open archway. It was amazing as big as it was. Great, black harnesses stood against the walls. Judging by their size, they hadn't been worn by humans. Possibly trolls, more likely. I sniffed. Well, that would explain the scent of overtime eggs that hung in the room.  Bianca stood in the middle of the room. She was there in her yellow dress robes, and formed quite a contrast with the rest of the room, her clothes being so bright and the room being so dark. It was almost if Bianca was the source of light in the dark room. Bianca was silent. A voice spoke. THE voice again.

'Get up, Yorokei.'

'No….no, not you again?' 

'Get out of bed and get to work. You are wasting way to much time and there isn't much time to lose!'

'Show yourself!'

'NEVER provoke me.'

A green flash of light hit Bianca, and she fell onto the floor. Her eyes were still opened, and the expression of fear was clearly to be read on her face. 

'BIANCA!'

I wanted to run towards her, but the voice spoke again.

'DO NOT go any further if you want others to be spared this fate. And listen.'

I nearly crushed my teeth, as angry as I was….but I was also seized by another emotion: fear. Who was this voice? What did it want me to do? How did it learn of my powers, powers of which I hadn't even known?

'Learn to control your powers. No need to be scared of them. Those ones too scared, to weak to control their powers, will die. You nearly died last time, but next time you won't fail me.'

'How should I control them? I don't even know where they came from!'

'Next time, follow my guidance by the letter! Do not hesitate! Do not panic! I will help you control that power of yours….tonight, you will be tested…and you will know when that time will come….'

'NO!'

I had screamed when I awakened. It was dark outside, the night had fallen by now. How late was it? 2 'o clock….the dream…the voice again. The last time the voice told me things, I….

'LOST IT!'

I nearly jumped out of bed by the surprise of that. One of the students was up, rummaging through his stuff.

'Goldion has lost it! AAAAAH!'

It was Goldion, who was nearly going insane. No difference from his usual behaviour so far, then. I walked towards him and studied him. He failed to notice me.

'Goldion…what are you doing? It is late….what have you lost?'

'His Galleon! Goldion has lost his Galleon! This is Boom-awful! Not Sickkle good, definitely not sickle-good….alright. Stay calm. Goldion must be calm. Relax.'

I shook my head Goldion started breathing even more irregularly then before in his so called attempt to relax. His face turned red, and drops of sweat came dripping of his face as in waterfalls.

'Relax…think! THINK! Hnnnng….' A vein started pumping up Goldion's forehead. It was a truly hilarious and ridiculous sight, weren't it the fact that it was so late at night and I was so sleepy that I didn't catch the full sense of humour at that moment.

'Got it! Goldion must have lost it in the corridors!'

'Wait, Goldion….if you are going to go where I think you are…'

But no time. Goldion ran out of the bedroom, towards the exit of the common room. This wasn't good. Student's weren't allowed to leave their dormitory's at night, and in Goldion's case…well…it was hardly safe to let Goldion out during DAY as it was. Probably he would cause an awful lot of mayhem in the corridors at night, cost our house probably 150 points or something like that, and might get himself more detention then when I would sneeze in Professor Snape's class. 

'Yorokei….what's going on?'

Lily was awakened by the racket. She looked at me, with a lot of sleepiness in her little eyes.

'Can you come along, Lily…It's Goldion…'

'Oh god….is he getting himself into trouble again?'

'Any more understatements you could think of, Lily?'

We quickly followed Goldion through the corridors. And he WAS going fast. That a creature with such tiny legs could move at such great speed, really amazed me. I could hardly keep up with him. He looked around the corridors, searching for his galleon, but he didn't seem to find it anywhere. Which wasn't a surprise, really, if you realised that he was running through an immense corridor, looking around sporadic, not giving himself the time to look really good. Then, all the sudden, Goldion went around a corner, and a big crash was heard. Lily and I quickly ran to him to check on him. He had bumped up against another student. A familiar student to us: none other then Elysander Elvenblood.

'Ouch…That hurt….Goldion?'

Elysander looked around, and spotted me and Lily too.

'What are you three doing in the castle in the middle of the night?'

'Goldion lost his Galleon!', Goldion screamed. Elysander startled. 'Not so loud, you fool! They are going to hear us! I believe Filch was following me…either he or that darn cat of his!'

'Who can tell the difference.', Lily replied.

Elysander looked over his shoulder. I saw nothing, but Elysander's eyes went all big and he quickly rose up again.

'Duck!'

'Quack!'

Elysander slapped Goldion on the head. 'Duck, not the animal duck, you fool!'

'Why?!', I asked.

'Just do it, okay?'

We ducked, and I saw Miss Norris coming along. She looked straight at us, and I breathed really silent. Elysander had his hand in front of Goldion's mouth, who was looking as if he was going to scream. We heard silent footsteps. Mr. Flich was coming into the corridor and looked at Ms. Norris.

'What is it dear? Did you hear any students out of bed?'

'Meow', Ms. Norris replied.

'Well, nothing to see here….let's go, dear.' Mr. Filch walked on and Ms. Norris threw one last devastating glare towards us, before walking along with Mr. Filch. When they were around the corner, Elysander arose. He took his hand of Goldion's mouth and looked towards us.

'What happened, Elysander?'

Elysander straightened out his arm and seemingly held something blurry. Goldion got that greedy glint of his back in his eyes.

'Invisibility Cloak!'

'Where did you get that, Elysander?'

Elysander smiled. 'From my father. It comes in useful every now and then.'

'I saw', I replied. 'But that still doesn't explain why you are walking around the castle at night.'

'I have my own things to do, Yorokei….but they are none of your concern. If you don't tell anyone about me, neither will I tell anyone about you.'

'Fair enough.'

Suddenly, we heard footsteps again from the corridor Mr. Filch had just went into. 

'Darn! He is coming back!'

'Ready, everyone!' 

We ducked and Elysander threw the invisibility cloak over us again. We fell silent, as a figure with a cloak that also covered his head, came walking into the hall.

'That's not Mr. Filch', Elysander whispered.

'No, that's…..'

We looked towards the face of the figure. Under the dark cloak, I recognized a familiar face. A pale, white face, with emotionless green eyes went shrouded underneath it.

'Roy!'

Roy moved through the corridor at a quick pace. He did not seem to notice our presence at all. When he had passed, we threw of the invisibility cloak and stared after him.

'What is he doing here?', Elysander asked.

'We are going to find out right away!' I said.

We followed Roy through the corridors of the dark castle. He went up staircases, down staircases, through invisible walls and opened portraits here and there. He seemed to know where he was going, as if he was guided by someone. Me for one didn't remember where I had come from any more, but judging by the look in their eyes, neither did the others. Suddenly, Roy stopped in the middle of the corridor he was walking trough. He looked at a torch, and walked towards it.

'What is he doing?', Lily said.

'Goldion still hasn't found his galleon…', Goldion cried silently.

'Quit whining!' Elysander said.

'I have seen this in one of those muggle movies at my aunt Jenny's….watch that torch…probably a lever for a secret door or something like that.'

As I said that, Roy did so. He pulled the torch down, and the wall next to it opened. Roy entered the newly discovered passage, and we followed him again. What we saw there, was incredible. It was a hall, even bigger then the Great Hall itself. We looked up to the ceiling, but it was nowhere to be seen. On the sides of the hall stood big harnesses, as if like trolls had worn those. And then, I realised something….

'Lily?'

'Yes Yorokei?'

'I have seen this place before.'

'What?'

'In a dream…..this cannot be good.'

Roy walked up to the end of the hallway. There was a big, black orb levitating there. Roy took the cloak of his face, and walked towards the orb. He touched it once, and the orb began to emit a black light…which was a amazing thing to see.

'I think we better hide', Elysander said at the sight of this.

'Good idea', I replied.

Roy fell onto his knees and watched the orb. He began talking.

'My lord….I am sorry for the failures of recently….please….give me another chance. This time, I will succeed in doing your assignment.'

The orb shined. A cold voice came from it. It gave me shivers.

'Why should I give you another chance? You might feel lucky for still being around after having failed me….'

'Please, my lord…last time, you know…his powers protected him!'

'And why couldn't you overcome him?'

'Because he was stronger then me…'

'Yes….and what makes you think you CAN beat him this time?'

Roy arose. 'My lord, last time he succeeded in using his powers, he ended up in the hospital wing! He almost died! I think that by now, he is so scared of his powers, that he won't be able to control them! If you just give me one other chance! A chance to redeem myse-…yourself!'

Roy was talking about me..about the last time…the duel…So the powers he used weren't his own powers…he himself wasn't capable of curses! And my powers…..Roy obviously knew more of those…

'You think Yorokei is scared of his powers…'

'Yes, my lord.'

'It is a ridiculous thing to think!'

Roy shook back. 'I am sorry my lord! Of course-'

'But it might just work. Alright.'

Slowly, Roy rose up again. 'I will do my best for you, master!'

'You sure will. Listen good. You must take Yorokei to me, but you mustn't kill him. If you kill him, the same fate will befall you. I do not accept intolerance. And be careful. You might think he isn't capable of using his powers, but you could not even begin to understand the complexity of his powers. He might pick up the secret of his powers if you corner him. I myself wouldn't care if you would die, but it would be a bit inconvenient for my plans.'

Roy looked nervous at those last words, and fell silent. And then, without any warning, the black flames around the orb flared up and formed themselves around Roy. Roy screamed through the room. His eyes were all white, and you could see his veins were all pumped up. It was a scary sight to see. I could even hear Goldion silently crying behind me of fear. And then, the flames around Roy slowly disappeared and Roy himself fell down on the floor. He lied there for a moment, and then rose up again. It was a totally different Roy from the Roy he was before. He looked much more selfconfident, and had a scary glare in his eyes. He looked at his hands, as if he was examining himself. He let his fingers go back and forth, and smiled. A big, ugly smile. Roy looked back at the orb, which was simply glowing again like before.

'I thank you, my master. I shall not fail you this time.'

'Don't get cocky.'

'What do you mean, my lord?'

'Even now you have failed me. In case you haven't noticed in your ignorance….'

'What?'

'He has followed you.'

The orb's flames disappeared, and Roy looked over his shoulder. He was angry allright. Really angry. 

'YOROKEI!'

Roy looked left and right across the room, looking for me. And he wasn't going to give up until he would have found me, I realised. 

'Yorokei! Come out! You will pay for what you have done to me! First you knock me on the floor, then you mame my face, and after that, you ruined my entire appearance at the Yule Ball! I know it was you! Now come out and duel me face to face!'

I was scared to death….Roy had some of his powers back…if those included the dreadful crucio curse, then I would be doomed! I could never escape! By the looks of him, Goldion also looked really scared. He was biting fingernails now and kept talking to himself. Elysander, however, looked strangely calm. He looked me straight into the eyes and pointed towards Roy.

'Listen, Yorokei….it is YOU he wants. He will not hurt us too much, I bet. Me and Goldion will try and sneak up on him, and paralyse him. As soon as we've done that….you run!'

Goldion looked terrified. 'Goldion not wants to sneak up on Roy! Goldion is boom-scared!'

'You'll get your galleon back, Goldion…', Elysander replied.

'Goldion will?…….Okay. Goldion will help…'

While Elysander and Goldion neared Roy by sneaking towards him behind the harnesses, Roy had already guessed we would be around there somewhere. He flicked his wand left and right while walking, lifting up one harness and throwing it away. And then, a second harness. A third. He looked determined. Determined to do whatever his goal was. In this case, finding me. 

'If you hide any longer, Yorokei, I will only get more angry then I already am! So come out from wherever you are hiding!'

Suddenly, a harness fell on the ground. It was Goldion. He had bumped against a harness, which had fallen down. Roy looked towards Goldion, who stood with his back against the wall, sweat dropping from his large forehead and shivering like a little child.

'A Goblin?!', Roy sneered.

Roy pointed his wand at Goldion.

'Expelliarmus!'

Goldion's wand fell out of his hand. Goldion hadn't even tried to defend himself. He was terribly frightened.

'Mobilicorpus!', Roy said, and Goldion flied up into the air. He couldn't move any more, and Roy looked at him. His eyes were dark, emotionless. 'Yorokei….Come out and stop sending your so called friends at me or else you will see more of THIS!'

Goldion was thrown to the other side of the room, and fell into the pile of harnesses Roy had already lifted up. Unconscious. Goldion's face was bleeding heavily. He could die of those wounds if he wouldn't get to the hospital wing fast, so I took a stand.

I stepped from behind the harnesses and faced Roy. 

'Roy. You are looking for me.'

Roy didn't even say a thing. He flickered his wand at me. 

'PARALITIS!'

Once again, I was totally paralysed. I couldn't do anything to defend myself now. What had I done? Now I wouldn't be able to help Goldion either! And there was a big chance that I would need help once again, too. But perhaps….my powers….? And as if I had expected nothing else, the voice came.

'Yes Yorokei….your powers….use those.'

But my powers…I didn't even know what my powers were. And I hadn't got the vaguest clue of how to use them.

'Listen well….concentrate on the centre of your body….you can feel something there.'

There was some sort of heat…

'Yes, that warm feeling inside….feel it..believe in it….and use it.'

I concentrated on the warm spot just above my navel. It glowed….it went warmer and warmer….and then…I had a memory flash…of…

A scorching pain was going through my body, I was burning…….I was on fire! My skin burnt away, and I screamed in fear.

'My skin….I am….'

Bianca screamed. Roy lied unconscious against a tree. My skin burnt. I could see the blisters on my hand again. I was frightened. No one was near me to help me. 

'Somebody….please…..help me…..'

Back in the present time. My I looked at my hands. And somehow…fire was flaring from my hands. Roy grinned, but he didn't look happy with the situation.

'I dare you. Use your powers.'

The voice came again.

'If you are scared of your powers, you will never be able to control them.'

Pointing with my hand towards Roy, I started waving my hand in front of him, hoping to scare him of with the fire…but I was scared. My hand…I was in great pain. I did not want to burn up again…having to go through that once is more then enough for a men's life…and then, the fire slowly died…and my hand was only partially burnt.

'Wouldn't you say…' Roy's grin grew from ear to ear.

'You were strong enough to escape the paralitis spell, but using your powers still is impossible for you. And now….' Roy rose his wand above his head. He was going to use it. He was going to use the crucio curse.

Suddenly, a voice screamed through the room. 'LOCOMOTER MORTIS!' 

Roy jumped aside and looked behind him. It was Elysander. He looked at me in anger.

'Don't just stand there! RUN!'

But he shouldn't have done that. 

'IMPERIO!'

Elysander was hit by the imperio curse, and Roy looked really pissed of. 'WHY do you send these PESTS after me, Yorokei?! It's no use!'

I wanted to run like Elysander told me to, but I couldn't. What I saw was so horrible, that I just couldn't turn and run. Roy had ordered Elysander to grab a big sword from the harnesses, and then…

'You cut yourself to pieces now…..limb…by…limb…'

Elysander slowly moved the sword towards his hand, and was about to cut it of. But then, I ran towards Roy. Screaming out of anger. Roy startled, but quickly aimed his wand at me, and then…..

'AVADA KEDAVRA!'

A big green flash of light….this couldn't be? I couldn't avoid this. This would be the end. For all people, this would have been the end. But then, a little lilac light flew in front of me.

'Lily! Get away!'

Lily fell silent. And then, she lit up heavily, and screamed.

'CHRONOSHIFT!'

'No!', I heard Roy say. And everything went white.

'LILY!', I screamed. But I was back in my bed. Back in my dormitory. And suddenly, I realised..

'Goldion! You are okay!' 

'No! Goldion is NOT okay! Goldion lost his galleon!'

I looked at the floor and saw Goldion's galleon, which he himself of course have totally overlooked. I quickly gave it to him, before he would run of again. Goldion looked happy.

'Thank you, Yorokei! You are a boom-okay friend!' 

Goldion fell asleep in bed…it was as if time had been put back….Goldion was alright…the same was probably true for Elysander, as well. I looked over at the table next to my bed, and then…I realised not everything was the same as before. Lily lied on her little bed, which was made out of a matchbox, but she didn't move. Not at all. I held her against my ear, to hear if she was breathing. She was, but only just…she was nearly dead…and then, I started to panic.

'LILY!'

I poked Lily with my fingers, trying to get her back again, but it didn't help. And she needed help. A lot. And Roy! I had to tell someone what had happened! The black orb! The voice! And how I escaped in a way I didn't understand! I started walking circles through the room, and decided that got me nowhere. I would go to Peter, he would know what to do! I opened the door of my dormitory, and wanted to walk out, but someone was blocking the way. A man in long, purple robes, with silvery hair that was so long that it could be tucked into his belt. From his half-moon glasses, he looked down at me. His face was worried. 

'I am Headmaster Dumbledore, Yorokei….and I think it is time we had a talk….'


	12. Chapter 11: Letters and Lectures

- Chapter 11 –

- Letters and Lectures –

'Hot cocoa. Always cheers me up when I'm down.'

I stared at the mug, but it couldn't catch my attention. Professor Dumbledore looked serious and walked towards me. He kneeled down and his eyes met mine.

'Yorokei…please, have some cocoa. It will make you feel better. And you need to feel good if you are going to tell me what has happened to you in the past few hours. Or should I say: past few weeks?'

Reluctantly, I picked up the mug and drank some of the cocoa. It made me feel warm inside. Funny feeling.

'Good…you look better already…Now, I want you to tell me what happened to you in the past few weeks. Especially tonight. I need to know it if I want to help you.'

'Lily….'

Tears were dripping down my face, onto Lily, who I still held in my hands. She wasn't giving any signs of life at all. I couldn't fathom it. Lily had saved my life, and nearly died doing so. She did this….for me.

'Yes…Lily…a courageous little creature indeed.'

I bit on my upper lip. Courageous was but a small word. Lily was far more then just simply courageous. Lily was a lifesaver. My lifesaver. She cared more for me then she did for herself.

'If it is Lily who has you worried, Yorokei….then I think I should tell you something…'

Professor Dumbledore walked towards his bookcase and took a big book from it. It had signs on it which I couldn't read. Probably another alphabet. Professor Dumbledore opened it and showed me a picture of an island with a big castle on it, shrouded in mist.

'This is the Elf Island Avalon, Yorokei. And Lily, in fact, isn't a Finnish fairy.'

'But Hagrid said…'

'Lily is an Avalonian fairy. That is why she's still around. Finnish fairies are extinct, but their cousins, the Avalonian fairies aren't. They come from the Elf Island Avalon, where they are loyal servants to the elves, the only creatures thought able to take proper care of these delicate creatures.'

'But I'm not…'

'Of course you aren't. You aren't an elf, but you must be really kindhearted. Otherwise Lily would certainly have died.'

'So you are saying….'

'Yes, Yorokei. All the time Lily has spent here with you, you kept her alive. The kindness in your heart did so. And you are still doing so now. Lily is not dead, because her master, you, still cares for her.'

I looked at little Lily. She had saved my life, but I had also saved hers in some way. Was that the reason for her sacrifice?

'But as fortunate as that is, Lily will not survive too long on your kindness alone. You will need to put her in a bath at once, and then get her to Avalon. Avalonian faries instantly regain their powers when they get back to there homelands.'

Dumbledore gently picked up Lily from my hands, and walked toward a tiny sink in his little room. He flicked with his wand, and soap came out of it. As soon as the sink was filled, he put Lily in the water. Then, he walked back again, and sat down behind his desk again.

'Now that Lily has been taken care of, I want to talk to you about some other things.'

I just sat there and stared at the professor. What would I tell?

'Just tell me everything, Yorokei. Of course I know about the duel you and Mr. Sulferwood had in the Forbidden Forest. And I do not approve of it, but that is not something I want to discuss right now. I want to talk about the events that took place tonight. Well…the events that originally took place at night.'

'Originally?'

'As you must have noticed, the time was turned back to the moment of when you left to follow Mr. Sulferwood. That was thanks to Lily. Turning back time is a rare gift, and Avalonian fairies are capable of it, but it nearly costs them their lives, and thus they don't use that power. Never. They aren't even allowed to do so by the fairy rights. But this was an emergency, so I think she won't be in trouble for it this time.'

'Well…what happened originally…'

'Yes.'

I took a deep breath and began telling what happened. How Goldion had ran off, how we met Elysander, and how the three of us went following Roy. That Roy had talked to a black, glowing orb, and regained powers he had lost. That Roy had noticed us and had tried to track us down, and nearly succeeded if it hadn't been for Lily. And that I nearly used my powers again, as the voice told me to. All the time, Professor Dumbledore had been listening to me, just nodding and saying 'yes' every now and then. When I had finished, he looked serious.

'That is not just a little thing that happened there.'

'No..'

'But it certainly tells me a big deal.'

I just looked at the professor. A big deal. What did he mean with that?'

'The powers of Roy aren't his. They are sent to him by another person. A powerful wizard I suppose. And that might also have corrupted his mind, making him so maniacal about destroying you. You could say Roy acts as the person who wants you. The person that spoke to Roy through the orb.'

'So Roy can't really help it?'

Professor Dumbledore thought a moment. 'Yes. He can. But he doesn't want to. He probably has some kind of personal grudge against you. He wants to see you humiliated. But not dead. That is the influence of the person who pulls his strings.'

'Gee….now I am almost feeling sorry for Roy.'

'I advice you to avoid Roy as much as possible for the moment. Do not agitate him. It could be dangerous. Despite the fact that you, Mr. Sickkle and Mr. Elvenblood weren't there in this path of time, doesn't mean that Roy hasn't done the same thing as you have seen before. On the contrary. Roy has regained his powers tonight. And he is a lethal threat to you.'

'My life is in danger.'

'Yes.'

That thought cut through my mind like a warm knife through butter. This couldn't be! I was eleven years old! Professor Dumbledore sighed, and walked towards me.

'Yorokei….this has been a hard night on you. I advice you to get some sleep now.'

'But professor, I am far from finished! My strange powers, they-'

'I would like to talk with you about those powers, but I am not sure if I am the right person to do so.'

'Why not, professor?'

Professor Dumbledore seemed troubled  by that question. He clicked with his tongue, before talking again.

'Sometimes, Yorokei……sometimes, even I have to know where my duties end. And at this time, I am not the person who is supposed to tell you these things. Your powers have a source. Your powers are so ancient, so sacred, that it is not my place to talk about them with you, or allow you to wield them. That job is left to another person. Someone who knows a great deal more about your powers then me.'

'Who is that person?'

'He will find you. He definitely will find you.'

My blood was boiling. How could this be? I wanted to know about my powers! Weren't they dangerous for me, then? Wasn't that important? What if I set the whole school on fire?

'When you find the source of your powers….you will find that person. And I am positive you will do so. Trust me, Yorokei….I've dealt with situations like these before. And I trust my decision is right. And you have to do so as well.'

'I suppose so…'

Professor Dumbledore smiled. 'I'm sure you'll learn to understand in time…'

      Since it was weekend anyway, I decided to spend my day in the Ravenclaw common room, the only place where I could quietly think about last night, and the strange words that professor Dumbledore had spoken to me. Sighing about it all, I laid my head between my arms, when suddenly an arm was tuck around me.

'Hey Yorokei…'

'Stephany!'

Stephany looked worried. 'You don't look so good, Yorokei. What's the matter?'

'Oh….I don't know….I…don't want to talk about it right now.'

'You shouldn't carry around problems, you know. That will only make you feel worse. You have to talk about them.'

But I did not really feel like talking. Not with Stephany. She might have been my best friend at Hogwarts, but she wasn't really the person I wanted to trouble with the horrors I had seen happening last night. 

'And…well…if you won't talk to me….no matter what reasons you may have for not doing so, be sure to talk with someone….because if you are keeping your problems inside…..they won't go away. They will only become bigger and bigger…and eventually, they will tear you up from inside.'

I thought about that. And suddenly…..I realized who I should talk to.

The forest clearing was peaceful that day. The birds were singing in the trees because of the temperatures slowly getting warmer. The first leaves slowly started growing back onto the trees. I could stay here the whole day long, but that wasn't what I came here for.

'So what's bothering you, Yorokei?'

'Elysander!'

Elysander was sitting in the very same tree he sat in the day I first met him. He smiled, and jumped down from the tree. 

'Come here to train with me?'

'No, Elysander….not at all.'

He looked at me, worried. Probably the sadness was spread wide across my face.

'There is something wrong, am I right?'

I sighed and nodded.

'Tell me about it.'

The past night once again played in front of my eyes. I saw Elysander again, ready to cut himself to pieces. And Roy laughing about it.

'Elysander….it is hard…'

'Can't be that hard.'

'Can be. Do…do you remember..'

'What?'

'Do you remember what happened last night?'

'Last night I was in my dormitory. Sleeping.'

I looked into his eyes. 'No you weren't. I don't know why, but you were sneaking through the castle wearing your invisibility cloak.'

Elysander fell silent and his eyes went big. 

'I-I sometimes go out for training at night….but how did you?'

'Last night? Let me tell you Elysander, the last night you remember wasn't the REAL last night!'

'Not the real last night? How do you mean?'

'Last night? Well, it was totally different! And I will tell you what really happened! We ran into that Roy Sulferwood guy, and followed him to a secret chamber, where talked with a black, fiery orb, which gave him immense magical powers, which he used to track you down and cast the imperio curse on you. And then, he forced you to cut yourself to pieces.'

Elysander grabbed his head. 'Ouch…a sting…'

'What's the matter Elysander?'

As he bit his lip, Elysander began mumbling. 

'I...I think I....' Slowly, Elysander turned his head towards me, and blinked with his eyes. 'I remember!'

'You do?', I asked surprised.

'Yes.....it is as if a button has been turned into my head! I refound my memory of this night, now that you have told me!'

Elysander looked at me, uncertain of what to say, I reconed. 

'Yorokei?'

'Yes?'

'There is something I need to show you.'

Some moments later I found myself waiting in the Great Hall of the school. Elysander had gone towards his common room, to get something. He wouldn't say what that thing was yet, but I was sure I would find out soon. As I was sitting down there, wondering what it could be, and wondering what course my life would take now Roy was after me instead of Bianca, someone came along that seemed to do away with all those problems. 

'Hi...' Bianca looked at me, and blushed. 'How are you?'

I forced a smile. 'Fine, thanks....'

Bianca sat herself next to me. She took my hand, and looked towards me.

'You shouldn't lie to your own girl, you know. We girls don't like that.'

'Well...it is something that happened yesterday. But I am...not ready to tell you just yet. I will tell you, but please give me some time to get over it myself.'

'Yorokei?'

'Yes'

'You were there for me when Roy was giving me a hard time. Now I want to be there for you, because.....I want to return that favor. And besides...you're my boyfriend now.'

I hugged Bianca thight and kissed her on the forehead. What turn would my life have taken if I hadn't met her? I mean, I would never have met Roy, and Roy would never want to destroy me or any of my friends. But then again, I wouldn't have met Bianca, a girl I wouldn't want to lose for anything! As she sat there, I knew I could tell her. But I didn't want to. She had been really happy the past few weeks, for the very first time I had met her. I didn't want to risk making her worried again.

'Yorokei?' 

I looked up. Elysander had returned. In his hands, he held a yellow enveloppe. Elysander handed the enveloppe over to me.

'This letter is for you.'

'For me?', I asked surprised.

'Yes. From my father.'

'The King of Elves?'

Elysander nodded. 'I haven't read it. Most letters my father sends are highly privacy sensitive, so I left it for you to open it. I received this letter about three days ago, but I forgot to give it to you.'

'Thanks, Elysander.'

'Well, let's hope this clears up a thing or two about Lily's message.'

'Yes...' Slowly, I opened the enveloppe and took the letter out.

_From: Elfric Horatius Elfenblood, King of Elf kingdom Avalon_

_To: Yorokei Tokisado_

_Dear mister Tokisado,_

_It has come to my attention that my attendant, the fairy you know as Lily, has not been able to deliver the message I had wanted her to deliver to you, due to an unfortunate case of amnesia. Lily has remembered some things, according to my son Elysander, she did not forget who to deliver the message to: you yourself._

_However, I have monitored the happenings in your surroundings closely. Thus, I have made another descision. Rather then telling you the message I gave to Lily via a letter, I want to talk to you face to face, because in recent light of events, some tables have turned and some things are much easier to tell to you if I could meet you....and show you certain things._

_Thus I have decided that you are to visit my kingdom, the Elf Island Avalon. Of course, it is not to be found by just any muggle or wizard. Our island is shrouded in a thick mist that will misguide even the best sailors and shipmen. Therefor, I humbly ask my own son Elysander to temporarily leave Hogwarts with you, and guide you to me. He will know how to reach the island, and will be able to bring you to me as well._

_I hope to welcome you to my island soon. Kind greetings,_

_Elfric Elfenblood_

All three of us were looking at each other, wondering what to say.

'You are going away then?', Bianca asked with woe in her voice.

Elysander looked at me. 'You will be away for a week or two....Are you sure we will get permission to go away for such a long time?'

'Indeed, you will.'

We turned around. Professor Dumbledore stood behind us, and smiled.

'It is an invitation of the king of Elves and you think you could reject? Think again, Yorokei...you will go and see the king of Elves. It is he, who will tell you more about your powers, and where they come from.'

'And Elysander...'

'Can come along, Yorokei....I will cancel all exams for the two of you during your brief absence. But please, be carefull in Avalon. It is not JUST a place. It is a magical place full of mythical creatures. But not only mythical.... also dangerous....'

We all watched each other in amazement. We were getting time of? We were going to see the king of Elves?

'I suggest', Dumbledore spoke, 'That you should leave tomorrow morning towards the forest. I know there are some things there that Elysander will require. Am I right?'

Elysander simply nodded.

'Good. Then get packing your stuff. And bring back a gift for me, will you? I love tourist gifts.'

Dumbledore walked away, and we all fell silent.

That night, Bianca and I sat outside of the castle. A half moon stood up the dark sky, and we looked over the lake. Sitting there, next to Bianca, made me feel really happy. But I would have to miss her for some days. I tuck my arm around her, and looked up to the stars, which weren't quite as beautiful as her eyes.

'I will miss you, Yorokei', she said. 'It will be quiet here without you causing havoc and trouble all over the place.'

'Try and ask Goldion Sickkle. He is a blueprint for disaster.'

'No...' Bianca stroke with her hand through my hair and watched me into my eyes now. 'No-one could take your place that easily.'

Knowing nothing to say to that, I simply said nothing at all, which was enough for the both of us to realise that we cared for each other. A lot. 

'There is just one more thing, Yorokei.'

'What is that?'

Bianca crouched on her knees, and crouched towards me. She held my shoulders with her hands and looked at me with a serious look.

'This is very important. So you should not forget.'

'What?', I asked worried. 'What is so important?'

Bianca grinned.

'Will you bring me a gift, too?'

'Of course I will.'

She gave me a kiss, and we fell onto the grass, which made our robes wet. But we didn't care. All we cared for was being there, together. And not worrying about tomorrow.

**Well, there you have it folks. Chapter 11. Slowly, but steady, the plot begins to thicken, and soon I will be telling you guys what Lily knew and all....but for the moment, just make do with this. This chapter already gave you some hints about some characters, and for the very first time, I allowed Dumbledore to be involved. Okay, so it's short. The last chapters all were REALLY HUGE. So make do with a short one this time round. Please give me comments so I can improve on my writing, I really appreciate it!**


	13. Chapter 12: A Fairy Exciting Bet

- Chapter 12 –

- A Fairy Exciting Bet –

March had entered the year, and along with it, the usual unpredictable weather that could be sunny one day, and cold as ice on the other. This day, however, was a sunny one, which was good, since I would have to make a trip to who-knows-where and making a trip is always nicer when the sun shines then when the rain gusts from the skies, I told myself. My stuff was already packed. It wasn't much, since I didn't have any idea how long my trip to Avalon would take, and besides that, I didn't feel like carrying lots of stuff around that was too much of luxury anyway. I got out of bed and walked towards the bathroom sink. Lily was there, still as lifeless as she had been ever since the confrontation with Roy.

'Hang in there', I said. 'I will make you better. I am going to take you to Avalon.'

No usual cynic reply from Lily or not even a clue of that she heard what I said. Even now, I was amazed by the fact that she would sacrifice her life for mine. After I had washed myself, I took a little iron box and poured some hot water in, along with the last of the bath shampoo I had given Lily for Christmas. I put her in, and took a last look at her.

'I am sorry, but I am going to have to close the box for now. It will be dark in there….will you be allright?'

Lily of course, was as silent as the next person in coma. I closed the lid, and put the box next to my bag. 

'Time to go', I muttered against myself, and I closed the door of the dormitory, leaving it behind me for some time….

And so, I came to be standing in front of the Hogwarts castle at this early morning in march. I was waiting for Elysander to show up, so we could start our journey to Avalon. I tried to imagine how it would like. The kingdom of elves…that would have to be a truly magical place, I reckoned. Perhaps even more magical then Hogwarts! It had been shrouded from everyone not welcome to the kingdom….what an honour that I was allowed to visit it. Just a one time visit would already be an enormous privilege! Then, the door of the castle slowly opened. But it was not Elysander who came out of the door. It was Bianca. She saw me sitting in the field of the courtyard, and ran toward me, with something clutched into her hands.

'Yorokei!'

'Bianca! What are you doing up so early?'

Bianca grinned. 'Saying goodbye to you of course…and I forgot….'

Bianca took my hand an put something inside it, what she had held in hers. I opened my hand. It was a small, white orb, on a necklace. It kind of looked like the one that Roy had spoken to two nights ago,  but this one wasn't black, but white, and emitted a light that looked strangely familiar to me, though I couldn't quite remember where I had seen something shining like that before.

'What is it?', I asked.

'It is an oracle….it has been my father's….'

'An oracle?'

Bianca nodded. 'Yes! It is a very usefull item! Look!'

She took something from her pocket. It was another oracle, just like mine.

'An oracle allows two people, who share an oracle, to speak with each other from great distances. Our oracles are bonded, that one you have is my father's, and mine used to be my mother's. They were wedding gifts my father took with him from Nepal for their wedding. So we now share the oracle that my parents used to share. And you can ask that oracle to contact me whenever you need to! And it also can give you advice to deal with situations if you are in a tricky spot!'

I looked at the oracle in my hand. 'Let me see…', Bianca said, an she took my hand and brought it close to hers, to the other oracle, and both oracles began to shine heavily. Bianca shook up, and blushed when she saw it happen.

'What's the matter?', I asked? 'Are they broke or something?'

'No, no', she said. 'Not at all….they are fine..'

I looked her straight into the eyes and made a decision.

'Bianca….this oracle…I can't take it..'

'What?' She replied.

'It is one of the few things you have got left of your parents, I reckon….and it is very special…You shouldn't give this to me.'

'Yorokei?'

'Yes?'

'Do you want to know what I think?'

'What?'

'My parents are gone…and they want me to be happy. These oracles were meant to be mine. No, that's not true…they are for me…and someone who can make me happy again, and will protect me like they used to do.…and you have done so...so you keep it.'

We looked each other into the eyes and didn't say anything, which was slowly but steadily becoming the best way to talk with each other…. I knew Bianca was right, and I could see in her eyes that she was confident in her decision, and wasn't about to go and change her mind. I smiled.

'Okay then…I will take it.'

The door opened again, and Elysander came out of the door.

'Sorry if I interrupted anything special…do you want to talk?'

'No, Elysander…', Bianca said. 'I'm quite finished with him….he's all yours. Just bring him back in one piece.'

'Hey…I'll miss you, Bianca…'

She gave me one last kiss and winked. 'Just go, boy.'

Elysander smiled. 'Then it is time to go…'

Elysander and I walked a great distance through the forest. I didn't have a clue where he was heading, but Elysander was silent and just walked along through the forest. He seemed to know perfectly where he was heading.

'Where are we going, Elysander?', I asked.

'Of course Avalon isn't an easy place to reach. It is an island shrouded in mist, and won't be found by those who aren't meant to find it. The island lies close to Norway, so we will have to use something to come closer to it.'

'Like what?'

'I have arranged for a Portkey in this area. It should be around one of my distant training spots.'

'You have arranged for it? How?'

'Well, I have had some help from Professor Dumbledore of course…but I did have to give him the location of a place near the island.'

We walked along through the forest until we came at a beautiful spot. It was a small mountain with a waterfall running of of it, and I could hardly imagine this being a part of the Forbidden Forest. Elysander turned around and looked at me.

'The portkey should be around here somewhere.'

'Good, then I will go look for it.'

We searched the area for a while, but didn't find anything at first.

'What does it look like?', I asked.

'Uh….as smart as I am….I forgot to ask.'

'Great.'

'Well….it IS Dumbledore who arranged for the portkey…I am sure it looks really obvious…a bit weird…'

I looked around once more, but didn't see anything. I sat down next to the waterfall, on a bunch of rocks. This would be a nice place to have a picnic, I thought. And then, suddenly, I saw something in the water. A book! I picked it up and took the book towards Elysander.

'Hey! Elysander! Can this be it?'

Elysander took the book and looked at the cover. 'My Life as a Death Eater…yup, that is the kind of weird stuff Dumbledore would leave behind alright.'

'So you think it's the portkey?'

'Yes, I think so!'

Elysander started rummaging in his bag and took out a watch. 

'And it is a good thing you found it, because this portkey will leave within 5 minutes, so we haven't got much time left!'

We gathered around the portkey, and looked towards each other. Elysander looked at the oracle, surprised.

'I didn't know you had an oracle! Where did you get it?'

I picked up the oracle. 'This? I got it from Bianca this morning! It used to be her father's.'

'Yorokei….you better be very careful with that…Oracles are really rare! And really expensive, too! Why, I think a pair of oracles nowadays costs….1200 Galleons or something like that!'

I was stunned with surprise. I looked at the tiny oracle in my hand. 'T-t-t-….twelveTHOUSAND?!'

'Uh-huh. Crafting oracles isn't an easy thing to do. The first need to find pure diamond, then a very skilful wizard has to enchant it, which is hard since diamonds are hard to put a spell on, and then you even have to put them on a necklace, which isn't easy since it must be able to contain all the magical power!'

'Wow…'

'Listen, Yorokei…do not lose that thing…that girl of yours, she cares for you. A lot I reckon. And I don't know how she got these, but giving them to you is a sign that she trusts you with something very valuable.'

'I knew they were special…but this..'

'Don't lose that girl Yorokei…'

And with those words, we flashed away.

A few seconds later, we found ourselves at a little beach. The water flowed up and down the coast, washing up clams and little animals as it did so. I was fascinated. My parents had rarely taken me to a beach, so this was one of the first times I actually saw one. But we didn't have much time for sightseeing now. Elysander walked up to the coast, and winked.

'Yorokei! Over here!'

Elysander had walked up to the coast, where a tiny boat lied. He threw in his bag, and sat down in the boat.

'This boat will bring us to Avalon. It only rides for those who are allowed to go to Avalon. So step in!'

I stepped into the boat. It was a little rickety, but I decided that being demanding wasn't going to get me to Avalon, so boarded the boat anyway. The very moment I sat down, the boat began moving on itself, out to the open sea. Elysander lied back and closed his eyes.

'All we have to do now, is wait. This boat will do everything.'

'Yeah?'

'Yes. I am going to sleep a bit. But do look around a bit, this sea is beautiful. Certainly on a day like this.'

And so, we drifted of onto the sea.

After three hours, there still wasn't much to see but the sea itself. How far would we be from the coast right now?, I wondered. 

'D4.'

Water spouted onto Elysanders face.

'Missed me!', I said.

'I have never been good at magic battleship….'

'You can say that again! You're the worst!'

'What?'

'Uhm…I said this sea and all gives me such a thirst!'

'Yeah…me too…' Elysander looked around. 'Avalon can't be far off now…'

As he said that, we bumped onto a coast we hadn't even noticed. Elysander smiled.

'Told ya so.'

We stepped out of the boat and looked around. There wasn't really anything special to see around….just a little beach like the one we took of from. I looked down at the sand, and saw something.

'Elysander….these footprints….'

'What?'

'Check the shoe profiles…'

Elysander looked down. 'Well?'

'Elysander! These are our shoes! This is the same island we took of from!'

'Nonsense!' He said. 'That can't be!'

I sat down in the sand and looked  out to the sea. Would we ever reach Avalon? Suddenly, my oracle began to glow. I kept it in my hand and my eyes turned big.

'Look Elysander! My oracle is doing something!'

At quick pace, he came running towards me. 'What? Is it glowing?'

'Uhm…yes! Yes, I think so!'

'You must ask it for help then! It knows an answer to your question!'

'What question?'

'You wonder for something, I reckon! Well, better ask the oracle straight away!'

I brought the oracle close to my head. What would I ask it? Of course!

'Oracle! Uhm…can you tell me if this is Avalon?'

The oracle began to glow heavily and a woman voice spoke from it.

_'Sometime things might look the same_

_To find a difference is the game_

_Use your eyes and look around_

_Cause your answer is here to be found'_

The oracle stopped glowing, and I looked amazed. 'Bianca….?'

'Difference….difference…'

'Elysander? What are you doing?'

'Didn't you hear what your oracle said? It gave us a clue! We are on the right spot alright, but we have to find a difference from the original island we came from!'

That didn't quite make sense to me. 'Wait a second…how do you figure that?'

'Sometimes things might look the same, it said. This island looks the same as the one we came from, right?'

'Yes.'

'To find a difference is the game! So we have to find a difference from this island with the one we left of from!'

Now it made sense to me, too. So the two of us went of, searching for a difference between the this island and the one we original came from. We searched everything, but no differences were to be seen anywhere. Even the clams and creatures that washed ashore seemed to be the same ones as before. We searched for nearly an hour, but we found nothing. Nothing at all. Elysander looked around, sighing.

'I wish we could have used floo powder. I use that, but only elf people can travel to my kingdom via floo powder.'

Slowly, I picked up my bag.

'What are you going to do?', Elysander asked.

'I am going back. Back to Hogwarts. And we will have to send another letter to your father.'

'But the portkey won't leave for another 24 hours! It is no sense, Yorokei!'

'But I'M going!'

I decided to backtrack my footsteps towards the portkey anyway. I absolutely didn't feel like searching on for something that wasn't too be found. And then, suddenly, I noticed something. Amongst my track, there suddenly was another pair of shoes! Just one pair of shoes with another profile! And that hadn't been there before. I yelled at Elysander, and he came right over.

'Yorokei! These footsteps!'

'You see? They are different!'

'Let me see…' 

Elysander stepped into the footsteps, and with a little poof, he disappeared. I did the same, and with a little poof….

….'Where am I?'

'Welcome, Yorokei….to AVALON!'

I looked around and what I saw was….amazing! A big, medieval market stood at a big courtyard, and all kinds of magical creatures were walking around, probably buying and selling stuff. There even was a big windmill-shaped ferris wheel on the courtyard! And on top of a hill, surrounded by tall walls and towers, was a castle, as white as a pearl. My mouth fell open with amazement.

'Yorokei? Your mouth's open', Elysander pointed out.

'This is your home?', I asked.

'Yes…'

I quickly opened my bag and looked in the box with Lily in it. 

'Elysander….Lily…she ain't moving…'

'No, no, that's not how it works…', Elysander pointed out. 'We will have to go to the fairy fountain. You will have to put her in there. It is a little bit further on the courtyard here.'

'I want to go there. Straight away.'

'Of course', Elysander said. 'Follow me.'

We walked up to the courtyard, to a place where a big group of people was standing. They seemed very excited about something, and I made my way through the crowd. 

'The fairy fountain should be right there, Yorokei!', Elysander said.

But the only thing I saw, was a big stall with a goblin standing behind it. This goblin looked way different from Goldion or the ones I had seen in Gringotts. He had a big, gold ring through his nose, wore a leather jacket, and had tattoos all over his body. The goblin grinned, and the people seemed to be looking at his stall table.

'Step right up!', he said. 'Win great prizes at Stanley's Fairy Fights!'

I walked up to the goblin.

'Where is the fairy fountain?', I asked.

The Goblin looked a bit irritated by the question, but he then started grinning. 'The fairy fountain is right here, behind my stall. Want to use it?'

'Yes!' I said. 'My fairy is nearly dead! She needs the water from that fountain!'

'Sorry kid', the goblin said. 'I really am sorry, but I bought the rights to the fountain a month ago or so! It is mine now! And I am the one who decides who gets the water! Now, what do you have to offer?'

'Offer?!', I said with fury in my voice. 'My fairy will die if I don't get it into that water!'

Elysander stepped forward. 'Stanley? You again?'

Stanley ticked on his stall table with his long fingers. 'Why…prince Elysander? How are you today, your highness?'

'Good. But what is this nonsense? This fountain is public property!'

'I am afraid, that that is a lie…', Stanley grinned. He opened a drawer in his stall and took out a blue parchment.

'See! The official proof of ownership of the fountain! And it is mine!'

Elysander looked amazed. 'You must have stolen that!'

'Prove it! I bought it fair and square from some stupid stealing troll who didn't see the value of it! And so it now is rightfully mine! And I do with the fountain as I please!'

I opened the box and got Lily out, and showed her to the goblin. 'Please sir…she is dying…can't you help me? Please?'

The goblin looked at me as if I was a piece of dirt on his shoe. 'Listen. Business is business. I will let you use the fairy fountain if you give me something valuable. That is the whole deal to it.'

'But I have nothing of value!'

A grin came on the goblin's face. 'You know what, kid? I like you. You are determined to cure that fairy of yours. And I like it. It must be a very good fairy if you want her cured that badly, isn't she?'

'She…', I stumbled….'She is my companion…but she is more than just that. She is my best friend in the world….'

'Aaaah…how touching', the goblin mocked. 'Well, I will allow you to put her over there in the fountain then.'

I looked up. 'You will?'

Elysander looked dark. 'Wait, Yorokei…no rush needed. Stanley won't do such a thing unless there is something to gain from it for himself.'

Stanley kept on smiling. 'You know me too well, Elysander…' Stanley turned his eyes to me again.

'Listen up. You will get that fairy of yours cured. After that, we have a fairy fight.'

'A fairy fight?'

'Yes. A fairy fight. If your fairy wins…she is cured, and you are free to go. If she loses…she becomes my fairy. So. Do we have a deal?'

Elysander took me by the hand. 'Come Yorokei. We will see my father to solve in this matter.'

'Gosh, that fairy of yours looks awful, doesn't it?', Stanley said. 'Oh I don't mind you taking her with you again. She will probably die before you even get to the gates of the castle anyway, and she looks like a terrible companion.'

Perhaps I should have known better then to let my emotions take the overhand, but I jumped towards the goblin and lifted him up by his leather jacket.

'Bring it on you slimy piece of scum! Where is that fountain?'

Stanley gurgled. 'Let me….go!'

I dropped him hard on the ground and looked him into the eyes. I don't know why, but suddenly, Stanley didn't look so confident of himself any more. He crawled back behind his stall and straightened his jacket. He then pointed at the fountain behind the stall.

'There…go heal that fairy of yours!'

And so I walked back to the fairy fountain. A big, white statue of a fairy stood in the middle of the fountain, spouting out water in perhaps a dozen different directions. The water was bubbly, as if someone had done bath soap in it. It also smelled very pleasant. No wonder Stanley saw great business opportunities in this magical fountain. Quickly, I got Lily out of her box, and put her into the water.

'Lily….please be okay now…'

The bubbles of the fountain covered Lily in a thick mass of soap, that somehow seemed to circle around her tiny little body. Slowly, the bubbles began to glow…lilac coloured glow. I smiled.

'Lily?'

And then, the bubbles all burst at once, and a lilac light came flying out of it. The light flew towards me and looked me into the eyes.

'Lily!'

she cried. 'Yorokei…you are alive! And…' Lily slowly examined her body. 'I am alive, too…'

I opened my hands, so that Lily could land in them. As she did, she looked around and fell completely silent. 'I am home…you brought me all the way to Avalon…to bring me back alive?'

'Well….yes.'

Little tears dropped from her tiny little face. 'I wish I was bigger now, Yorokei…'

I couldn't help but crying, too. 'Why is that?', I asked.

'Cause then I could hug you…and not let you go!'

I brought Lily close to my face and stroked her hairs. 'This is enough…'

Stanley came walking towards me, still a little bit nervous because of the fact I just lifted him up, I reckoned.

'Great. You got her healed. Now come to my stall.'

We walked towards the stall, and Stanley showed me a big circle drawn on the ground, that I hadn't noticed before. His selfconfident smile had suddenly found its way back to Stanley's face.

'Now, ladies and gentlemen!', he said to the crowd that had gathered around the circle. 'This boy will put up his fairy, which is also the wager of the bet, against one of my own fairies!'

Lily looked worried. 'A fairy fight? But that is so barbarical!'

'It was the only way that stupid goblin would allow me to heal you! I don't even know what it is.'

'We will talk about this later!', Lily said. 'You have once again proven how impulsive you are, so I am happy you haven't changed a bit during my leave of absence. I will fight, but only once. And I hope I won't lose…'

'Is there any way I can help you?', I asked.

'No', she replied. 'I am in enough trouble as it is right now.'

Stanley had walked up to the centre of the circle, and held a little cage in his hands.

'Come on out, BLU!'

Another fairy, just like Lily, flew out of the box. Only this one wasn't glowing lilac, this one was more a bit grayish blue. It landed on the other side of the circle, and looked towards Lily. Then, it let its glow fade away, revealing that this was a male fairy. It had little brown curls, and held a little stick in his hand. As it studied Lily, Lily seemed to study her opponent as well. But then, the mouth of the male fairy fell open, and he looked all surprised and confused.

'Lily? Is that you?'

Lily looked just the same as the blue fairy. 'Blu?'

'It is you, Lily! Me and the others were so worried about you!'

'Blu! How did you end up here! You are one of the servants to king Elfric!'

Blu sighed. 'I was stolen and then brought here…I spent the last month on fighting other fairies. As you know, I must obey my master. Most times, I win, because I am a royal fairy and all….lots of training of course.'

Suddenly, Stanley decided he had enough of the conversation, and he clapped in his hands. 

'Three…two…one…FIGHT!'

Lily flew towards Blu, but Blu flew away.

'I don't want to fight you, Lily!'

'Come back, Blu! This is important! I want my freedom back!'

Lily's little hands reached for Blu's legs, but Blu proved to be the faster one of the two fairies in this race. It was quite a sight to see, the fairy fight. I could understand why people thought they were exciting. Two little light bulbs following each other around. But Blu proved to have no intention to fight Lily at all. He seemed a bit frightened of her, and kept avoiding her attempts to catch him, rather then to attack her head on. Lily, however, was not holding back and attacked Blu with full force.

'Stop this, Lily!'

'No! You stop fooling around and fight me!'

Stanley was scolding at Blu from the sideline. 'What are you doing?! Get that stupid fairy, now! You coward!'

Blu turned around towards his master, and looked at him. He went shining heavily. I recognized this behaviour. It was the same thing Lily always did when she was upset. Blu shouted. 'How dare you call Lily a-'

But that wasn't smart of Blu. He let his guard go down, and Lily grabbed him, and slammed him down on the ground. Then, she held him tight, so that he could not escape. Blu was down. Lily had won!

'Yay!', Lily said. 'I won, I won, I won!'

'Good for you', Blu said, exhausted.

'No!', screamed Stanley. 'This isn't fair! This cannot be! How could you lose to that stupid fairy, Blu? HOW?'

Lily had let go of Blu, and looked at him. The poor guy was laying there, with not much of his power left. Lily somehow seemed to be sorry for what she had done, and she looked sad.

Elysander walked up to me. 'Now that's settled, let's go Yorokei.'

He looked down at the two fairies. 'Horrible that a fairy came to be in the hands of such a greedy goblin…it makes my blood boil.'

I walked up to Lily, and picked her up. 

'Lily…we have to go see king Elfric now. Are you coming with us?'

'But Blu is hurt…'

Poor Lily seemed to really have a soft spot for Blu. Still, we had to go now. Blu sat up straight, and Lily flied back to him.

'I will be okay, Lily', he said. 'My master will put me in the fairy fountain and get me healed. He does that every time I get beaten up…'

'But Blu…that is horrible…not all fairies are as gentle as me in a fight..'

Blu grinned. 'You get used to it. Now go to my real master, the king. Tell him and the other fairies I said hello.'

I picked up Lily again. 'We really have to go now.'

Lily cried little tears again. 'By Blue! I will miss you!'

'I will miss you, too, Lily!'

Stanley and Blu were soon out of our sight….and so we walked away from the crowd, on our way to the castle. So even in sacred, civilized worlds, there would always be greedy vultures of people that would do anything to get some money…even imprison others….

**Finally, I got to writing the one and other about Avalon, and also the introduction of Blu is a fact (one of my friends was very eager to see him). I will be going on a two weeks vacation now, and while on  vacation, I will write chapter 13, which will reveal the source of Yorokei's strange powers (well, I can always make changes, but that's the plan for now). Please let me know what you thought this chapter, and I would also like to know which character (except for Yorokei) you like best, and why? So please review and thanks for reading!**


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